To Be A Parent
by Slytherin's Baby Girl
Summary: The seventh year students have to complete a course, but not just any course one that will test the Purebloods and bring couples closer together. Will the houses unite, or will all the hard work crumble? Will truces be made? Or will enemies collide? DM.HG
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This will be updated pretty frequently, I am already writing the next chapter, which is where you find out a bit more. Warning: This story will be moving pretty fast, but it's just the way I planned it. It should start slowing down after about the third or fourth chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise – and I probably don't own anything you don't recognise either.**

Hermione, Harry and Ron stepped off the train at Hogsmeade station and looked around. Hermione began to walk over to one of the carriages, gesturing Harry and Ron to follow her. Hermione stepped in to one of the carriages and took the seat furthest from the door, allowing the other two access. Ron was the last one to climb in the carriage, so he shut the door and took a seat, waiting until the carriages began to move. They didn't have to wait long, and soon – the carriage lurched in to motion, throwing the three a bit off balance.

"So, I wonder what we are going to have to do this year. Have you noticed that every year at Hogwarts, we always seem to have some sort of adventure. Either involving Voldemort, Deatheaters or some deranged member of Harry's family." Hermione said, with a slight chuckle.

"Hey, what do you expect, he _was _locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, it's a miracle he didn't go insane." Harry said, defending his God-father.

"Mate, he couldn't go insane, he already _was_ insane." Ron joked, earning a mock glare from Harry, "hey, I was only joking." The three of them laughed, before lapsing in to a comfortable silence.

Before they knew it, they were climbing out of the carriage and walking up the path to Hogwarts. The night sky was a deep, royal blue with the stars twinkling, it looked relaxing and calm, not like the Wizarding world had just undergone a war, during the summer. The doors were wide open, welcoming the students back. Harry stepped through the threshold and felt like he was finally back where he belonged, somewhere he was wanted; somewhere he had friends. Hermione pushed him forwards a bit, he had stopped dead in front of them as soon as he had entered.

"You okay, mate?" Ron whispered.

"Yeah, sorry." Harry replied, his voice quiet. He continuted to move, and they found themselves outside the Great Hall. They looked at each other and smiled before pushing the doors open, welcoming the new school year. They made their way to the table baring the red lion banner and sat down towards the end. Ginny soon joined them, although she wasn't one of their best friends, she sat with them a lot, and Harry really wasn't going to be the one to complain. She sat opposite him and his cheeks got a pink tint to them – barely noticeable, except to Ginny who, in turn, blushed. The four of them talked among themselves about what they did during the summer while waiting for the remaining people to come in. Once every one was seated, Professor McGonagall walked in holding the stool and the old, worn hat. Everyone fell silent and watched as the sorting commenced. When the last person had been sorted (Hilda Zaslin – Slytherin) McGonagall moved the stool out of the way, and placed the hat on top of it, and stood at the front between all the tables.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, I hope that you have a great year, I'd just like to remind the seventh and fifth years that you have extremely important exams coming up towards the end of the year – revise for them. Also, please – new and old students – do not go in to the Forbidden Forest – it has that name for a reason. Mr Filch has added new rules to his door, look at them when you have the time – the list now totals to three hundred and sixty-five rules. I'm going to spare you an long speech, I am sure you are all hungry." McGonagall said, addressing the students. The students clapped at the prospect of being able to eat. As soon as Professor McGonagall sat down, the empty golden plates filled up with various foods, the goblets filled with different drinks. Harry and Ron shoveled the food on to their plates, while most of the Gryffindors, particularly the girls, looked on in disgust. Hermione added food to her plate, but didn't eat it.

"Mione, are you not eating?" Ron asked, in between mouthfuls of mash potato.

"Yes, Ronald, I was just thinking." Hermione sighed and lifted her fork.

"What's new there, then?" Harry quipped. Hermione just sighed and continued to eat, she pulled out one of her heavy tomes and began to read – only tearing her eyes away from the pages every now and again to make sure it was her food she was eating. The plates cleared nearly an hour later, and McGonagall stood up once more.

"After that marvelous feast, I am sure you all want to go to bed and sleep - I have one more message: seventh year, tomorrow, instead of going to your last lesson – come straight to the Great Hall." With that, she dismissed them. Everyone rose from their seats and walked out of the Great Hall, before most went their separate ways to their dormitories. Hermione, Ron and Harry walked up the the Gryffindor common room, and waited for the prefect to come up and let them in. When she finally did, they scrambled in and crashed down on the sofa.

"What do you have tomorrow then, Ron?" Hermione asked, trying to make conversation.

"Don't have a clue." Ron grunted.

"What about you, Harry?" Hermione asked, directing her question.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts then double potions." Harry answered.

"Same, I'm going to go to bed, I'm tired and I need to get up early in the morning. Hermione said, before going up the stairs and in to the girls dorms.

"Same, you coming, Ron?" Harry asked, standing up and streaching.

"Yeah, might as well." Ron said, mimicking Harry's movements. Both boys climbed up the stairs that led to the boys' dorm, changed their clothes and fell in to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Alls I can say is: "Bloody hell, two chapters in one day! I might even have number three up later on tonight – but tell me, would you mind if I classed chapter three as "It had been a week since the seventh years and Ginny had been told about this course, but they were still talking excitedly about it."?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot – and that in it's self has been done so many times, already.**

The whole of the seventh year was sat in the Great Hall, waiting for McGonagall to tell them why they had been summoned here.

"Good afternoon, seventh years. Now, you are probably wondering why I called you here today. Well, the Minister of Magic has introduced a new course – in which all seventh years have to take; you have to live like Muggles for most of the school year. You will remain in Hogwarts for only one month. You have only been here for a day – you have fifteen days left, before you are sent away to do your course. Then, you will return for the last two weeks of school so we can give you the results and you can graduate. I'm not going to be giving to much away at the present time – but, I can tell you – you'll be living like a married adult, meaning you will be living with a partner. You have to work with your partner, agree and generally work together to pass this exam." McGonagall finally finished, the students began muttering among themselves.

"Oh, man. That means we'll more that likely be split up." Harry said, sighing.

"Yeah, although – it should be fun, I just hope I can pass this." Hermione said, looking worried.

"Hermione – It's a class, about living as Muggles. You were practically a Muggle for eleven years of your life, so you know, I'm sure you'll do fine." Ron told her, with a smile. "Although - I can safely say, I'm buggered. I know nothing about Muggles."

"We'll all do fine, but, one of us is definitely going to paired with someone we might not like." Harry told the both of them, earning two separate nods.

"Go back to your common rooms." McGonagall's voice rung out. Everyone moved off their respective house tables and piled out of the door. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked up the stairs and to the Gryffindor common room, it was practically empty, save the remaining few seventh years.

"So, what do you think we are going to have to do for this course then? I mean, it's obvious we aren't going to be in Hogwarts, and we have to live with a partner – so that suggests we'll have to pretend to be married to that person." Hermione said, mostly to herself. She was trying to figure out what the course would expect from her, so she could research – she needed to pass this course.

"Yeah, I just hope none of us are paired with a Slytherin." Harry said, shivering slightly.

"Someone will, I don't think that the teachers will be choosing, because that's kind of unfair. They'll probably do some sort of name drawing ceremony." Hermione said, concentration etched on to her face

"Do you ever stop thinking?" Harry asked, looking at his friend with a raised eye brow.

"No. Neither do you." Hermione answered smartly.

"Oh- haha." Harry said, with a straight face, "that was so funny, I forgot to laugh."

"When you've shut up, can we continue thinking about the course, we need to know what's expected from us." Ron said, shocking them all.

"Erm, yeah – Ron, do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?" Hermione asked, placing her hand on Ron's head – checking his temperature.

"No why?" Ron asked, glaring at his friends.

"No reason, so lets think then?" Hermione said, smiling slightly at Ron. The three of them sat there in silence until Ron shouted out : "They are doing this to see how we will live outside of the Wizarding world, and to see if we can manage a family from an early age!"

"Ron, we figured that out ages ago." Harry sighed, while Hermione nodded in the background.

"Well, sorry." Ron huffed before it all fell silent again. Hermione was still thinking, when an idea popped in to her head.

"What if it's to create house unity?" She asked, looking at the two men.

"It could be, but why? Everyone knows that if you put a Gryffindor and a Slytherin in the same room or house for even a day, only one will come out alive – and it's usually the Gryffindor." Harry said, his brow creased in concentration.

"True, but I really don't think they are going to let us be by ourselves, I think there will be someone watching us, with out us realizing it. Someone that's there to prevent us killing each other." Hermione said, thinking of all possible solutions.

"That could be the case, I suppose – but come on, it's time for dinner." Harry said, standing up and stretching. AT this, Ron dived out of his seat and bolted over to the portrait hole.

"What are you guys waiting for?" He asked, slightly impatiently.

"We are coming, Ronald." Hermione said, with an amused smile.

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in to the Great Hall and sat down on the Gryffindor table, when Ginny walked over to them.

"I heard about the new course, McGonagall told me." She said, as she sat next to Harry.

"Why would she tell you, I mean, it's for the seventh years, isn't it?" Harry asked, confused.

"Yeah, but she said that it concerns me as well, don't know why though." Ginny answered, placing some food on her plate. Ron had already piled his plate full, like usual, and was wielding his fork like a shovel.

"Really, Ronald." Hermione scolded, filling her own plate. Harry didn't feel like eating, and was only taking little bites out of what he had on his plate, when he spoke.

"It'd make sense – think about it, In Slytherin there is five boys, and I think there is five girls. Then, in Ravenclaw there is three girls and and three boys. Then in Hufflepuff, there is three girls and three boys. In Gryffindor – Five boys and four girls. So one boy would be with out a partner, so maybe Ginny is going to be someone's partner." He said, wisely.

"Even if that is true, why Ginny?" Ron asked, glaring at the staff table.

"Think about it, Ronald. She is friends with three Seventh years, and her brother is going to be on the course with her. Ginny would be the safest to come with us." Hermione said, smiling, "and, if we are in the same place, I can have a shopping friend, Muggle shopping centers are great" At this, Ginny smiled, although she wasn't all girly and loved pink – she did love to shop.

"Sounds great!" Ginny said, enthusiastically. "But, what happens if we aren't in the same area?"

"Then, we'll go on strike." Harry said out loud.

The rest of dinner was spent talking about the course, and what they would do if they weren't together until it was time for bed. Hermione, thankful that the day had come to an end, climbed in to bed and fell asleep soon after.

**A/N 2: I want to say thanks to those that put the story on alerts or Favorites, it means a lot to me. Don't forget to let me know if it's okay to make the next chapter a week into their future.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Yeah, I know. I said I would have this up last night – but I got kind of stuck – you see, when I planned this story, I only planned the middle part, so that is why everything seems kind of rushed. You know, I can't wait till it's been two weeks, then you'll all find out what the course is properly – Which will be the next chapter. The next chapter, they will have only three days left before they leave.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it:)**

It has been a week since the seventh years and Ginny had been told about the course, but it was still what every one was talking about. They'd hadn't been told anymore information as of yet, and Hermione had practically thought about it day and night, it was annoying the hell out of her. She wanted to know what would be expected of her, and what she would have to do, who she was working with. If she had to pick between working with Ron and Harry, she's already decided that she would pick Ron, because he was a Pureblood who knew nothing about the Muggle World, where as Harry had grown up as a Muggle his whole life. So, in Hermione's mind, it was only fair. Ginny had told her, what had to be for the hundredth time, that she hoped to work with Harry – although, Hermione didn't blame her – it's not like she could work with Ron – it would be incest, and well, with Harry she had more chance of passing the exam.

"Hermione, you okay? You've been out of it for a while now,"Ron's voice cut through her thoughts. "You were thinking about this course again, wasn't you?"

"Yeah, just thinking about what skills it might require, you know?" Hermione said, still somewhat distracted.

"Hermione, there is no point in worrying about it, when it's time for us to know what's going on – we will be told, don't worry. " Harry said, glancing at his female friend.

"Yeah, I suppose your right." Hermione sighed, dejectedly.

"Mate, you do know, she'll still think about it, don't you?" Ron whispered, although he was perfectly aware that Hermione could hear him.

"Yep." Harry replied simply. Hermione just rolled her eyes and chuckled. They knew her to well – she wouldn't stop thinking about what might happen until it had happened, or she knew it was definitely going to happen. She had been wondering on how they were going to be sorted. She has suspected that it might have had something to do with the Sorting Hat, or drawing names. They were the only fair ways she could think of.

"Hermione! Stop thinking about that damned course, right now!" Ron ordered, with a stern glare.

"Honestly, Ronald, aren't you in the least bit scared of what we are going to have to do?" Hermione asked, she'd been worrying about it for sometime now, and she found it weird no one else was.

"Nope, Hermione. But, it could be because we aren't geeks." Ron said, laughing.

"Honestly, will the two of you ever grow up?" Hermione asked, with another roll of her eyes.

The two boys in question looked at each other, sighed dramatically before saying "narh" and then promptly falling on the floor in fits of laughter, for some unknown reason to Hermione. Although after a couple of seconds, she found her self laughing along with the boys – for no reason at all. It was there lunch time, but they weren't in the Great Hall – they'd already eaten – Harry and Ron had forgotten about their potion essay for the next period and had dragged Hermione up the stairs to help them finish it, but so far, they hadn't got much done on it.

"Guys! Potions is next, and we only have fifteen minutes to get your essay done in!" Hermione practically yelled, when she spotted the time.

"Damn!" Ron wheezed, as he and Harry sat up. They pulled out their parchment, ink and quills and began to write down what Hermione was saying, although they were having difficultly keeping up with what she was saying.

They had about two minutes until the bell went, signaling the end of dinner – Harry and Ron were just putting away there reports.

"Thanks, Hermione. Wouldn't have gotten that done, if it wasn't for you." Ron said, smiling at his friend.

"Yeah, Hermione." Harry agreed. Just as Harry said this, the bell went, and the trio scrambled out of the portrait and ran to the dungeons as fast as possible. They really didn't want to give Professor Snape a reason to dock points. They arrived just before the second bell sounded, as the class was entering the cold, dark classroom. Snape sneered down at them, when they joined the end of the line. His sneer was evil, almost intimidating.

When the whole class was seated, and quiet – not that they dared to speak anyway- did Snape begin to explain what they would be doing for the lesson.

"Today, you will be learning to brew the potion, Nox Duleo, alone. The ingredients are on the board, along with the instructions." He said, before sitting down at his desk. Hermione went to get her's, Ron's and Harry's ingredients while they set up the cauldrons. When she returned, all three were on the stands with a flame flickering underneath them, waiting for the first ingredient to be added.

"What goes in first?" Hermione said, dividing the ingredients.

"Rats' Spleen." Ron said, and pulled a face.

"Eww." Hermione said, "I hate touching them, why do potions have to have ingredients that are horrid in them?" She said, as she began to cut the spleen up.

"Who knows?" Ron muttered. "So, Hermione do you have anymore ideas about this course?"

"Hmm? Oh, not yet. Well, nothing of importance anyway." Hermione said, not really concentrating on what they were saying. Ron just nodded, and went back to his potion.

Potions was nearly over when Professor Snape got off his chair. He walked around the Slytherin's first, praising them – as expected. When he came over to the Gryffindor's side – he headed straight for Neville, who was already shaking with fear.

"Longbottom, and – what do you call this?" He asked, a sneer on his face, "it clearly says on the board that the potion should be clear, do you call this clear?" Snape ladled some of the black, gloppy potion out for everyone to see. The Slytherins laughed at Neville whilst the Gryffindors sent sympathetic looks to him.

"Ten points from Gryffindor." Snape barked, his eyes glaring at Neville, who was sinking down in his seat. The bell went, and Neville dived out of his seat, grabbed his stuff and ran. Snape just rolled his eyes and cleared away the failed potion. Everyone else pilled out of the dungeon, except Draco Malfoy.

"Tell me what you know." He demanded, looking straight at the potion master.

"Sit down then." Snape sighed.

It was dinner time, and once again – Ron and Harry were stuffing their faces. Hermione sighed and shook her head.

"_Really, it's not like they never eat!"_ Hermione thought to herself, while watching them stuff their faces.

"Hermione, what are you thinking about?" Harry asked, after he swallowed.

"Nothing of importance." Hermione answered, taking a bite out of her food to avoid further questioning. Harry just nodded and went on to eating. A few minutes later, the bell went. The three stood up and walked over to the doors, they were just about to pass through them, when Draco Malfoy and his two 'friends' blocked them.

"Look who it is, it's the Ferret." Ron said, snidely. Draco just smirked.

"You say that now – but you wait. You'll soon regret it." Draco said, looking Ron up and down.

"Oh, yeah? And why is that then?" Ron said, leaning to one side with his arms crossed.

"You'll soon find out." Draco said. His threats were empty but the trio didn't have to know that. He smirked at them, then walked away.

"Leave him, let's go back to the common room," Hermione said, grabbing both their arms and dragging them away. "Now!"

**A/N: Okay, next chapter is already writen, I did it while waiting for Fanfiction to let me upload. It's going to be near the end of the two weeks, don't like it, don't read.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Yeah, I know - I have a reason for these being so late, Fanfiction was playing up and wouldn't let me upload any stories what so ever.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own them.**

It was the time, finally, that the seventh years discovered what the course was. There were three remaining days until the end of the two weeks, and the students were getting excited. Their lessons had been canceled at the start of the second week, mainly because no one was concentrating. Even Ginny got out of lessons. Hermione was sat there, wrapping her hair around her fingers and biting her lip.

"You okay, Mione?" Ron asked, looking at this friend.

"Yeah, just nervous." She replied, not really paying attention.

"And to think," Ron began, "it was you who wanted to know all along."

"Yeah," she agreed absentmindedly. Ron gave up and turned his attention to the stand, on which Professor McGongall was stood, talking to Minister Fudge. It was a couple of minutes later that Professor McGonagall turned to face the students in the hall. She gave them a tired smile and began to talk.

"In three days, you'll all be out of this school – you'll be living with another student from school, and you will have to face your problems like you would in real life. There will be no teachers to help you out. You will all be living in different places, some in London, some of you will be in America and even Canada. You will be required to live as Muggles, although you will have your wands with you – in case of an emergency.

"If you want to keep in touch with your friends, you will have to send them letters, using Muggle mail. It's also your responsibility to get their addresses. before you leave, you will receive a letter, that you are not to open until you get to your destination! You will have your own house, and should you need anything, you are permitted to owl me – once and once only- so I suggest you go through the house for anything you may need, for example – a new bed, or anything you require like a shower.. You might find, when you get in to your house, you can't open certain doors – there is a reason behind this, and all will become clear to you the further you get in to the course. Now, I don't want to give to much away so that is all I am going to say today. Now, the reason you had to come here so early, was that today – we are going to be sorting you with your partner - I warn you – many of you are going to be with someone of a different house.

"Miss Weasley, please come up here." McGonagall said, after explaining the basics of the course. Many of the students, who had been muttering with their friends, looked up at this – they all knew that she was in sixth year – so why was she here?

"Do you understand everything that has been said?" McGonagall asked.

"Yes, Professor." Ginny said, nodding.

"Okay, take a seat on the stool." McGonagall instructed, and she pulled the sorting hat from under the staff table. Ginny sat on the stool, and looked around. It reminded her of being sorted the first time, she gasped when the hat began to talk to her.

"Ah, Miss Weasley – yes, I remember sorting you the first time. So, you're joining the seventh years, aye? Well, I wish you good luck with that – your partner is – HARRY POTTER!" The hat finished, and shouted out Harry's name, similar to the way it shouted the houses out.

Harry looked at Ron and was sure that, if it was possible smoke would be coming out of his ears. He moved away, quickly and moved to the side, where Ginny joined him. McGonagall read the next name off the list.

"Pansy Parkinson."

Pansy winked at Draco and walked up to the hat. The Professor placed it on her head, and the hat began to talk to her, almost instantly.

"You think I'm going to pair you with Draco Malfoy, don't you. Well, miss, I can tell you that I don't plan on that – in fact, I think I've found someone better suited for you – TERRY BOOT!" The hat finished, and as soon as the name left it's... 'mouth' everyone turned to look at him, and he grimaced. As he walked to stand near Pansy – who was stood near Harry and Ginny – the Ravenclaws, and most of the Gryffindors, patted him on the shoulder. Even Draco sent him a sympathetic look.

The list went on and on, until it was just Ron, Hermione, Draco, Crabbe, Millicent and Lavender left.

"Millicent Bulstrode." Millicent walked away from the remaining students and sat down on the stool, waiting for the hat to tell her who she was partnered with.

"Ah, don't be scared. It's not that much of a big deal." The hat said in it's old calming voice. "Your partner will be VINCENT CRABBE!." At this, Crabbe smiled in a goofy manner and Millicent groaned and walked to stand next to the other couples at the side of the Hall. Professor McGonagall smiled at her, before reading the next name off the list.

"Hermione Granger." Hermione looked at Ron hopefully, before walking over to the stool, and slowly sitting down. She knew most people were watching her. The hat was placed on her head – and it began to talk, almost instantly.

"Miss Granger, I remember you, yes indeed. Very smart, aren't you? It questioned, although the hat didn't gave Hermione time to reply and it began to talk again. "You're anxious to know who your partner is, aren't you? Don't worry, Miss Granger. That's where I come in. I believe it is time for me to tell you who your partner is. Your partner is:...

**TBC**

**A/N: Haahaa, couldn't help it sorry, I wanted to leave you with a cliffy.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Just wanted to says , a massive thank you to those who have reviewed. This is for you – all two of you :p. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize. **

"DRACO MALFOY!" The hat shouted out, Harry and Ron gasped. Hermione's eyes glazed over and she slid off the stool and on to the floor. Draco looked horrified that he would be made to work with Hermione, and he expressed this by shouting:

"I am not working with that – that – Muggleborn! I refuse!" He shouted, startling half of the students.

"Okay, then, Mr. Malfoy – you've failed your class, well done." Professor McGonagall said, whilst she tended to Hermione.

"Wait? What do you mean? If I don't work with her, we fail?" He asked, slightly shocked.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." McGonagall replied.

"Doesn't that mean Granger will fail as well?" Draco asked with a smirk.

"No, Mr Malfoy – far from it in fact," it was the Minister that spoke this time. "She'll get a hight grade, considering she would have had to do the course by herself. So, I'll go and cross your name off the list, shall I?"

"No! I'll work with her, Sir." Draco said, looking at the floor.

"I thought so." The Minister said, helping McGonagall with Hermione. She slowly came around and saw her professor looking down on her with worry.

"Are you okay, Miss Granger?" She asked, concerned for her pupil.

"I'm fine, Professor." She answered, closing her eyes briefly. Harry and Ron were far from angry. How could the hat place Malfoy with Hermione?! Harry decided, next time he saw that hat, he'd be having words with it. Ron was red. How could they?! Why with Malfoy, damn – he would have been happier if she was with Crabbe – he was too stupid to hurt her, at least. At least Ron knew who his partner was, and was slightly relieved it was someone he could trust. Plus, he had been going out with her last year – so it wouldn't be that complicated. Hermione stood up off the floor and walked over to where Ron and Harry were stood, Draco reluctantly followed her, and made sure he was standing as far away as possible.

"What are you going to do about him?" Ron asked.

"What can I do?" Hermione retorted. Ron just nodded his head and shrugged. Professor McGonagall once again stood in front of them, and told them something else.

"Another thing I forgot to tell you was, that you have to spend the next three days together." She said, before hurrying off, so she couldn't be argued against. Hermione sighed and turned to Draco, he looked at her with a sneer before rolling his eyes.

"Lake, tomorrow." Was all he said.

"Time?" She replied.

"Ten." He said, before walking off. His friends followed him, and left their partners stood there.

"Kill me." Was all Hermione said, before walking back to the Gryffindor Common room.

"Shall we follow her?" Ron asked.

"Nah, let her cool down." It was Ginny who replied, "she knew she would be paired with Malfoy."

"How?" Ron asked, wondering how Hermione knew this.

"Because, she got a letter over the summer, saying that the head boy and girl, who happened to be her and Malfoy, would be working together a lot more than anticipated. But, McGonagall didn't hold any meetings – so Hermione wouldn't find out who her partner would be. But with Malfoy being Malfoy – he went around and bragged and she found out about it – and well, lets just say she hasn't been a very happy bunny since." Ginny told them.

"Poor sod, it's times like this that I really feel sorry for her." Ron said, grimacing.

"It's times like this that I want to kill Malfoy." Harry said, with a scowl.

"I've always had that feeling – there's never really a time. It's more of a constant urge." Ron said, smirking.

"Fair enough, mate." Harry grinned. Ginny just sighed and said:

"Harry, I'll meet you in the Common Room tomorrow morning, kay?"

"Fine by me." Harry said, his cheeks tinting pink. Ginny just smirked before bounding off to the Common Room to talk to Hermione.

"Harry, mate, I feel sorry for you." Ron said, as he began walking to the Common Room.

"Why?" Harry questioned, walking with Ron.

"You are going to be stuck with Ginny for over six months." Ron said, simply but then rolled his eyes at Harry confused expression. "She'll like my mother, but only ten times worse." He told him. Harry turned pale – it's not that he didn't like Mrs Weasley – but when she was mad, she could even scare Voldemort into hiding in a closet.

"Damn." Harry muttered, still pale, and slightly dazed.

"Don't do anything that she might find offensive – and you should be able to have kids when your older." Ron said, smirking wickedly. Harry paled even more. Okay, he was scared! They finally made it to the Gryffindor Common Room, they greeted the Fat Lady, said the password ("unity)" and walked in to the room. They instantly saw Hermione and Ginny talking in a corner, and they made their way over to them. The girls shut up as soon as they saw the boys approach them.

"Hey." Hermione greeted with a smile.

"Hey, so I see you're not too upset about having to work with Malfoy?" Harry said.

"Nah, we'll get over it. He'll soon learn that outside of school, I can be evil and manipulating." Hermione said, with an evil grin.

"You know what, I'm getting this feeling – and it's extremely weird because it's for Malfoy – and it's pity, with a bit of sympathy." Ron said, worryingly. Hermione just laughed.

"You know what, I think I'm going to go and take a bath – then I might go and read for a bit. If I've got to put up with Malfoy all day tomorrow, I want to relax tonight." Hermione said, before standing up waving good bye to her friends. Ginny waved back, before standing and saying: "I think I'm going to go to my room, and start packing – we only have two days left you know." Before walking up the stairs and in to the girls dorms. Harry and Ron watched her go, before Ron said: "Shall we pack as well?"

"Yeah, might as well. What else do we have to do, aye?" Harry replied, standing up and stretching. Ron just nodded and began to walk up the stairs, closely followed by Harry.

**A/N: Okay, hope you enjoyed that. I know I am not the best writer in the world, and all – but your reviews really do make me smile. I'm working on the next chapter now.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Okay, I'm going to try and get out as many chapters because I'm not going to have much time after tonight, but this could be the last one until Saturday latest. Hope you enjoy. :)**

Hermione woke up, feeling refreshed. She stretched under her warm blanket and looked at the time, it was only half seven. She sighed, happily and snuggled closer to her bed, pulling the blanket up to her nose, to protect her face from the cold air. She lay there, still, for a few minutes before deciding to get out of bed. She hissed as her feet hit the cold ground before she quickly shuffled to the toilet, she had a shower while she was in there. When she came back out, she had on the end of her bed and cracked her neck then walked over to the trunk and pulled out a pair of jeans, and a turtle neck jumper. She quickly dried herself and checked the clock, it was nearly nine, she must have been in the shower longer that she thought she had. She put them on quickly and brushed her hair in to a pony tail; she knew it would get messy as soon as she went out side. She pulled on her socks and shoes, grabbed her gloves, scarf and hat then left to curl up in front of the fire. When she got down the stairs, she sight she saw made her smile. Harry and Ginny were asleep on the couch, both wrapped up in each other, using the others body heat. She couldn't help but smile, but she also knew that if Ron saw them, he'd be angry and turn in to an overprotective brother.

"Harry, wake up," Hermione whispered, shaking his shoulder gently – she repeated this twice before he actually woke up, he straightened his glasses and moved so he wouldn't wake Ginny up. As soon as he was off the sofa, she whimpered, and clutched closer to the cushions on the couch. Harry smiled at her, and placed the robe he was wearing yesterday over her.

"How are you feeling?" He asked Hermione.

"Scared, nervous, angry, upset and terrified." She answered truthfully.

"He won't hurt you, don't worry." Harry reassured her, giving her a quick hug.

"I know, I just can't help but feel this. What happens if we aren't all in the same place? What happens if we forget about talking to each other. Harry, I don't want to do this." Hermione said, burying herself in Harry's chest.

"Really, Hermione – do you think anyone is brave enough to separate us and place you with the enemy?" Harry asked, rocking her.

"They already placed me with the enemy, why stop there?" She said, sighing.

"Because, they know if they do that – they'll have two royally peeved off, angry teens throwing hexes at them." Harry said, smiling and pulling her away, "collect your thoughts, Hermione. Don't dwell on the past – if Malfoy offers a truce of any sort -- I never thought I'd say this but: accept it. It might make this course a lot easier."

Hermione just nodded and said: "I'm going to go down to the lake and wait, I'll collect my thoughts down their, it'll be easier when I'm by myself." Harry nodded and sat next to Ginny, waving Hermione goodbye and she walked out of the portrait hole. She walked, numbly, down the many stairs, turned corners but she never once concentrated on where her feet where taking her, she just followed them. She was in the entrance hall, she pushed the large doubled doors open and stepped out, wincing away from the blast of cold air that hit her full on in the face. She pulled her scarf tighter around her face and began towards the lake – she reckoned she had about half an hour before Draco turned up.

Thoughts began to fill her mind, and she had been sat there at least twenty minutes when she said:

"What I don't get though, is why the hat placed me with him?"

"Thinking about me already, Granger?" Draco asked, emerging from behind a tree.

"Yes, I was wondering what the hell I had done in a past life to deserve this punishment, being stuck with you. I was also planning your death." Hermione answered, as if it was normal to plans someones death.

"Glad to know I'm loved." Draco said, sarcastically. Just then, a large, brown, elegant owl swooped down and dropped two letters, one for him and one for Hermione. They read

_Please gather in the Great Hall as soon as you get this,_

_thanks,_

_Professor McGonagall._

Draco waited for Hermione to stand up, before they made their way to the Great Hall – when they got there, they could see that every seventh year, and Ginny was here. As soon as they sat on the nearest table did McGonagall begin to speak.

"Okay, the Minister told me something else last night. Since you and your partners have to get to know each other – you'll be sharing a dorm. I'll read your name off a list and tell you where you are sleeping.

"Parkinson and Boot. Slytherin boys dorm. McGonagall said, nodding at the two before saying "When I've told you where you are living, please leave." She watched as they left. Next she said:

"Bulstrode and Crabbe. Slytherin girls dorm."

The list carried on until it was just Harry, Ginny; Ron, Lavender; Hermione and Draco.

"Now, I left you until last, because you will all be sharing a dorm. When Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy were made Heads' a dorm was made for them, then we were told we were doing a course, and there would be no need for this dorm. Well, you six will be living there together. There is one kingsize bed in each room. Please work it out with out anyone being injured." McGonagall said, "Well, follow me!" McGonagall lead them to a portrait of a old man, holding a staff.

"Password?" He asked, wearily

"Unity." McGonagall said, making sure the couples heard the password. The portrait swung open and admitted the group. The room was massive, and there were many doors leading out of the main Common Room. Hermione gasped, it was perfect. Even if she did have to share it with Malfoy. With a smile, McGonagall left the room, and the portrait swung shut behind her.

"Harry, you are not sharing with my sister!" Ron said, as soon as he heard the portrait shut.

"Okay, tell you what, I'll share with Lavender, Ginny can share with Hermione and you can share with Malfoy, is that any better?" Harry asked, with a stony expression.

"If I hear any funny business, you'll find it extremely hard to have children, Potter!" Ron threated, looking angry and shocked that Harry suggest that he, Ron, should share with the git, Malfoy!

"Good to know," Harry said, "you coming, Gin?" He asked, walking out of the room, with Ginny following them.

"I'm sorry, 'Mione, will you be okay with him?" Ron asked, glaring at Draco as he spoke.

"Yes, Ronald, I'll be fine." Hermione sighed, before she turned and walked in to her room, Draco followed her.

**A/N: I'm so so so so so sorry! I really am, it's not that I forgot about it, it's just that I couldn't think what to include in this chapter, I really am sorry x.**


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: I know, I said I'd update on Saturday, but I got banned from the internet, for two weeks. And, when I got it back, we got disconnected – so we are now with a new internet connection company. And, hopefully, I should be writing fast for you guys. I really am sorry - I couldn't help getting banned – it was because I got one low grade... ONE! Grrr. Love yaz xx**_

Hermione opened the door, and smiled. It was a cream coloured room with a large king sized bed in the middle of the room. She walked further in to the room, so Draco could see it as well. He smiled, it was rather nice – although, he'd never tell Hermione that. He watched as Hermione sat on the bed before saying:

"Granger, that is now your side of the bed – don't touch my side - I don't want your mudblood germs on it!" He saw her roll her eyes, but she looked sadder than normal. Draco just rolled his eyes, went in to the bathroom and looked around. It was decent. _"Nothing like my bathroom at home, but it's only for three days."_ He thought. He walked out of the bathroom and their room, and went and sat in the common room.

"Granger! In here, now!" He demanded.

"No, Ferret!" Came her reply, "I'm busy."

"Mudbloo--" Draco never got to finish, Ginny had slapped him, and had her wand pointed at him.

"Don't ever, ever, call Hermione that – again! Understand?" She hissed, venom in her voice. Draco was scared, although he'd never let her know that.

"Say what, 'Mudblood'?" He smirked. Ginny brought her hand down again, hitting his cheek, with a satisfying noise.

"Watch it you blood traitor," he hissed. "You'll get what you deserve one day."

Ginny lifted her hand again, this time, her fist was balled, and ready to hit him. He knew what she was going to do, and just as she was about to bring her fist down, he grabbed her wrist. She stiffened, making Draco smirk.

"I told you to watch what you was doing." He responded. He didn't notice Harry walk in to the room, and didn't until he could feel something hard sticking in to his neck.

"Unhand her now." He growled, shoving the wand in to Draco's throat harder. Draco managed to get a:

"And, what will you do if I don't 'unhand' her?" He said, tauntingly.

"I don't suppose you remember the whole thing last year, you know – with the 'Sectumsempra'?" Harry asked, with a calm voice.

"You wouldn't dare." Draco said, although his eyes suggested he was scared.

"Oh, I would, and even better, Snape isn't around to save you." Harry told him, watching as his eyes grew wide.

Draco squeezed Ginny's wrist, and smirked when she muttered an 'ouch.' Harry's face set like thunder, and he removed his wand from Draco's neck, and pointed it at his heart.

"SECTUMSEMP----" Harry began, but was cut short by Draco.

"Fine! Here, have her back." He said, before running back in to his room.

Ginny just shrugged and hugged Harry, before bounding in to her room. She wasn't going to admit how scared she really was! Harry followed her, and closed the door with a soft click.

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Ginny yelled, as soon as Harry entered the room.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, confused.

"Threatening Malfoy with that horrid spell! No one deserves that!" Ginny said, rounding on Harry.

"Ginny, he called you a blood traitor, and he was grabbing your wrist, he's a Malfoy, he could have hurt you. I wouldn't have cast that spell again! I only did it the first time because I didn't know what it would do. I just wanted Malfoy to think I was going to do it. I'd have stopped if he hadn't have stopped me." Harry explained, watching Ginny's face soften

"Oh," was all Ginny muttered, before pulling Harry in to a hug. "That doesn't mean you're forgiven." She said, when they pulled apart. "Even he doesn't deserve to be threatened with that spell," she told him softly. "We all know how much it affected you last time you used it." She said, smiling at him.

"I know, I know!" He said, jokingly. "You should know me better than that – I promised I'd never use that spell again." He said, although the corners of his mouth were upturned.

"I gave you permision, though, to use it on Voldemort in the final battle." Ginny said, reminding him

"Gin, I don't even think he had blood in his body, anymore – after everything he's done to himself. He'd have probably had empty veins. He mustn't have had a heart, either though. How could anyone do that? Hurt and torture people, to the extend he did?" Harry asked, looking at Ginny softly.

"Don't dwell on it, Harry, it's over. He's gone! You did it!" She said, enthusiastically.

"No, I didn't. We all did it. I just had to fight one guy, with out all of yous, and the Order, that wouldn't have been possible. I'd have died trying." He said, once again hugging her.

"I know, Harry." She said, agreeing with him. "But, if you hadn't had stopped him, killed him that night, he'd have found more recruits, and would still be going strong, and still killing people." She said, returning the hug.

Draco slammed the bedroom door shut, and growled in frustration. He threw himself on the bed, gracefully of course, and snarled.

_'I shouldn't have let Potter know I was scared, I should have stood my ground.' _He thought, angrily. He saw Hermione walk out of the bathroom, and rolled his eyes. Great, all he needed, another one of Potter's friends.

"What's up with you?" Hermione asked, walking over to one of the dressers and depositing some clothes from her trunk.

"Potter." Draco growled.

Hermione just laughed. "Awh, what did he do? Tell you he didn't like you?" Hermione asked, in a mocking voice, then copied Draco's previous reaction and rolled her eyes.

"No! He didn't. He told me if I didn't let go of that Blood- Trait---" Draco didn't get to finish, Hermione pointed her wand at him, and snarled "Don't finish that, if you know what is good for you."

Draco just rolled his eyes and thought:

_'What is it with bloody gryffindors pointing their wands at me?!'_

"Fine, he told me if I didn't let go of the She-Weasel. He'd hit me with 'Sectumsempra, again" Draco told her. She lowered her wand and stormed out of the bedroom and in to Harry's. She pushed the door open with force and walked inside. Harry saw her come in and gulped.

"Harry James Potter! Is what Malfoy said true? You threatened him with Sectumsempra again?!" Hermione asked, fuming.

"Yes, but I didn't mean it. He had hold of Ginny's wrist, and was insulting her." Harry said, quickly, slightly scared of Hermione.

"Oh." Hermione muttered. "But, why did you threaten him with it in the first place?" She asked, "I mean, why that spell, why not another spell?"

"Because, that's the only spell he'd be most scared off. He knows Snape's not around to save him." Harry told her. Hermione just nodded and walked out of the room.

_**A/N #2: Right, next chapter, is the day they leave Hogwarts, and go to their new location, I'm trying my hardest to get it out tonight for you all. Because I love you all so much. I'm going to write as fast as I can. I've already got the next couple of chapters planned out. (I got soo bored during the ban) I did try updating from school, but they banned FF. for some random reason.**_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Here you go, thank you to those that reviewed. I'm going to start working on the next chapter now, but there is no guarantee it'll be out tonight, sorry for any spelling mistakes -- I rushed it to get it out to you. **

Hermione climbed out of bed, and looked over at Draco, his hair was a mess, and he were snoring. Hermione sighed and walked over to the window, to see a large, brown owl; the reason she had woken up. Today was the day they left Hogwarts and went to what ever the teachers had deemed appropriate for them. She pulled the window open and allowed the Owl to fly in to the room and perch on the end of the bed. She walked over, slowly and pulled the letter from it's leg. It was addressed to them both, so Hermione opened it, and read it. It said:

_Mr Malfoy, Miss Granger._

_I request your presents down in the hall, please arrive as soon as you have read this, and make sure you have everything packed – please bring your luggage down with you, you will be leaving as soon as possible._

_Prof. McGonagall._

Hermione put the letter down and gasped, she'd forgotten to pack. She walked around to the bed, and knelt down next to Draco, she poked him, hard with her wand and hissed 'get up'. Alls Draco did was roll over and say:

"Don't poke me!"

Hermione frowned, and poked him again, and again, and again. She did this until he finally snapped and sat up.

"What?!" He asked, slightly angry at the fact that he was woken up.

"Get up, we need to pack and get to the hall!" Hermione said, running from the bed and dragging her trunk out from underneath it.

"I didn't unpack, so I'm ready to go." Draco said, standing up and walking in to the bathroom to have a shower. Hermione sighed and transfigured her trunk in to a suitcase, and threw all her stuff in it, placing a charm over it, so that it wouldn't get full. She pulled some of her clothes back out of the wardrobe and folded them in to her suitcase. She did this until all her clothes were piled safely in the suitcase, then began to throw all her other stuff in. Everything she had brought to Hogwarts, was going with her, she had decided. It took her about ten minutes to get everything back in the case, and then she had to chase Crookshanks, there were no way he were being left behind. Finally Draco got out of the shower and Hermione quickly dived in it. Whilst Hermione were in the shower, Draco double checked he had everything, and like Hermione, transfigured his trunk to a case, placing the same charm on it, so it'd look normal from the outside, but have all sorts of things inside it. In half an hour they were ready to go, and made their way down to the hall, their luggage floating beside them. They didn't talk, they walked in silence. When they finally reached the hall, they were the last ones in there, and rushed to sit down, there wasn't many places left, so they ended up sitting together. Ron growled at this. He didn't want Hermione sat next to him – he could hurt her. McGonagall smiled at the students and stood up.

"I called you all here today, as today is the day you leave Hogwarts for about nine and half months. During that time, there will be activities you will need to complete, and you'll get a few surprises along the way. Although, I'm sure you'll be able to cope. Now, if you'll each come up front and find the envelope with your name on, we can begin." She said, pointing to the staff table, where there were envelopes spread out. Everyone scrambled forwards, so they could get theirs and find out was going to happen next. McGonagall waited until everyone was back in their seats before continuing.

"Do not open the envelopes yet; first off, I need to explain somethings. Because there is only forty of you taking part in this course, there will be a group of nine in each of the following locations; Canada, England, Australia, Six in America and seven in France," McGonagall started.

"When you get there, an owl will deliver a message, and it will wait. I want you to send a reply, telling me you there safely, and if you need anything for the house. Remember, some rooms won't be opened for you, and will open at specific times during the months. Some doors might not open until the very last week of the course. Now, the groups you are with, were sorted by who your friends are, some of you might find you have no friends in your country – but all your partners friends are there. Don't worry. You can still keep in touch with your friends, but you need to use Muggle posting methods.

"While you are in your location, if anything bad should happen, then you are permitted to use your wands, but please, make sure you send your patronus to us, first – we can help you!" McGonagall said, stressing the point out.

"And, now you may open your envelopes and find out where you are going!" McGonagall said, knowing that is what a lot of them were waiting for.

Hermione pulled hers open, and a plane ticket dropped out. She read it, carefully, then smiled, but didn't say where she were going. "Where are you two going?" She asked Harry and Ron. Both the boys in question turned to look at each other and grinned.

"America!" They said together. "What about you?"

"America!" Hermione nearly yelled, happy she'd be with her friends.

"Thank god for that." Harry said, hugging his friends.

"Yep, now I can keep an eye on you and my_ baby_ sister." He emphasized the word 'baby' to make Harry get the point. Harry just nodded, and didn't say anything.

"You will be taken to the airport via portkey." McGonagall informed them. "America's group, please come forwards."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Ginny and Lavender stepped forwards and touched an old, broken quill. They felt the all too familiar pull and disappeared from the hall.

**A/N#2: Just so you all know, I'm English and I have never been to America. So, during the duritation of this story, and while they are at America (yes, I am going to be sticking to America, the main characters are there – sorry) if I do, or say anything that is wrong, or you think is untrue, please correct me, I have never been to America, so therefore I don't know that much about the place (except that nearly all the best films in the world come from there.) and I'd appreciate it if you'd correct me, I don't mean to offend, and it's not the reason I wrote this. I apologize now, for any mistakes (as I am sure to make many) I do – please remember, those that live in America or any other country for that matter - I don't mean to offend! **

**Luv you all.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry this took a long time to get out. I had some troubles describing the airplane thing, I've never been on one, so I don't know what it's like.**

The group of six landed in the unisex bathrooms of the Airport, in one of the cubicles – therefore, meaning they were all squashed together, being the cubicle was a medium one. Harry's face was pushed against the wall, Ron was against the door, Hermione was kneeling down, squashed down the side of the toilet, Ginny was in a very similar predicament to Hermione, but on the other side of the toilet, her face pressed against the wall, Draco were against the other wall, and, well, Lavender had landed in the toilet. She climbed out, and groaned, pushing Ron out of the way, making him fall on Harry, and Harry on to Hermione, she walked out of the cubicle with as much dignity of someone who had just climbed out of a toilet. Ron jumped off Harry the best he could, and helped the former boy up. Ron walked out, so Harry had room to help Hermione up. Hermione squeezed past Harry and left, leaving Harry with Draco and Ginny. To help Ginny, he'd have to help Draco - something he didn't want to do. He grimaced and rolled his eyes, sticking his hand out. Draco looked up and closed his eyes, grabbing the boys wrist and pulling himself up.

"Thanks." He mumbled, Harry just nodded and pushed Draco out of the cubicle so he could help Ginny. When they were all finally out of the cubicle, they made their way to the conveyor belt, and placed their bags down, each keeping their hand luggage with them and their wands, before moving on to security, they passed that with no questions, only weird looks at their wands. They finally made it to their gates and boarded the plane. When they looked at their tickets, they noticed they'd all been assigned seats near each other – and next to their partners. Hermione just groaned when she noticed that, Draco didn't say anything but he scowled. Hermione began to bite her lip when the Pilot announced take off, she quickly buckled her belt, looked around. As the plane began to move, she began to fidget - a lot.

"What's with you?" Draco asked, "you're beginning to annoy me. Stop moving."

"I can't help it, I'm not a good flier. I don't do planes." Hermione said, cracking her knuckles, then beginning to tap her nails on the arm rest. Draco just groaned.

"Well, learn to 'do planes' then. Because, if you carry on fidgeting, I will throw you off this plane." Draco threatened. Hermione's eyes grew wide, and she clawed at her seatbelt.

"Now what are you doing?" Draco asked, getting irritated.

"I'm getting of the plane, what does it look like?" Hermione snapped back, finally undoing her belt.

"I was joking, I'm not really going to throw you off the plane. You'd be too heavy for me to lift," He said, grabbing her belt and refastening it. "Keep it on. It'll look weird if you just happen to die, whilst being partnered with me."

Hermione huffed and folded her arms, trying to ignore the engine sounds. She could feel it moving, and it was getting faster – although, that could have just been her mind playing tricks on her. Who knows? She closed her eyes tightly, and began to hum. Draco looked at her, slightly amused. When she finally did open her eyes, it was when the pilot announced that they were allowed to take their seat belts off. She quickly undid hers, a green tint evident in her face, and ran to the toilets. Draco just shook his head, and Ron walked over, after seeing Hermione run off, and said:

"What did you do to her, Ferret?"

"Nothing, you little Weasel." Draco replied, annoyed.

"Did you know, that Ferrets and Weasels are related?" Ginny asked, smartly. "Ronald, come on. Back to your seat." She muttered, pulling on Ron's arm. He allowed his sister to drag him off; but he didn't stop glaring at Draco. Hermione came back a few seconds later, and sat back down, fastening her belt. She looked much better now, she was back to her normal colour. She put her head back, against the rest, and closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep, nay – she needed to sleep. She fell asleep relatively quickly, and were breathing lightly. Draco glanced at her, frowning slightly. He waved down an Hostess and asked her for a blanket. When she returned, with two blankets and two pillows, he carefully placed a blanket over her, and lifted her head slightly, then placed the pillow down. Some of the older couples around them awwh-ed. Ron just gagged and Harry rolled his eyes.

Draco looked around, and quickly sorted himself out, he had decided he might as well take a small nap, until the plane landed. He wanted to kill sometime. He put the pillow against the head rest, and leaned his head aback slightly, he pulled the blanket over himself and then tucked the rest under his feet, to stop it from falling off. He moved, so he were lying in a comfortable position. He, too, soon fell asleep. When he woke up, it was to Hermione shaking him slightly, and muttering 'get up' down his ear, much like she had this morning.

"Whaa?" Draco asked, confused and still tired.

"It's time to get off the plane! We are in America!" Hermione said, excitedly. Draco just nodded, still half asleep, stood up and stretched. He grabbed his and Hermione's hand luggage from the shelf above their heads and began his way off the plane. Hermione watched him get off then pushed Harry and Ron in front of her, and made them walk, Ginny walked behind her. She couldn't wait until she could have a good luck around the book-stores in America.

Once they had collected all their luggage, and gotten outside of the airport, they saw three men holding up signs. One said "Malfoy.", one said "Potter." and the other said "Weasley." The group walked over to the men holding the signs up and said 'hello'.

"Are you the new couples, from England?" One of the men asked.

"Yes, we are." Draco replied. The man nodded.

"We are here to take you to your apartments." He told the six, turning away, and walking towards a black car. The other men followed his lead, each going to a different car, opening the trunks and collecting the families luggage, placing down in the back.

They all got in the car assigned for them, and they were soon on there way to their apartments. Everyone of them, including Draco, were excited for what the course would contain, and to see their homes. They were ready to burst when the cars finally pulled to a stop. Hermione noticed that all three of the cars stopped at the same place, and wondering if Harry and Ron were going to be her neighbors.

**A/N: Okay, just to clear somethings up. I got a review saying I make a few mistakes, I'm sorry about them, if it makes it hard to read. I just don't have time for a beta reader, and I try to post my stories as soon as they are done. But, in the future, I'll read through them first. I do have a busy life. I'm studying for my GCSEs, I do different activities and after school clubs. I hang around with my friends, so it's usually a case of write it, post it, bugger off out with friends then read the reviews the next week. But, once again, I apologize, and thank you to those that reviewed last chapter. It means a lot to me Next chapter will be out relatively quickly, considering my internet has been down for a while, and I've had nothing better to do.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Enjoy.**

The men got out of the drivers seat, and walked around to the back doors, opening so that the three couples could step out. They then went to open their boots, and pulled the luggage out, handing it each to the male student. Ron and Harry both snickered when Draco nearly collapsed under the weight of Hermione's alone, knowing she'd probably just taken what she were going to take to Hogwarts – clothes, necessities and over twenty large tomes. Hermione rolled her eyes, and grabbed her case from his hands, she held it easily, making the boys grin. Draco just snatched his bag off the driver, making Hermione frown.

"Thank you, Sir." She said to the man, for both her and Draco.

"It were my pleasure, Miss." The man replied, closing the boot to the car.

When the three couples had gotten their luggage, the three men drove off handing them an envelop before they did. Hermione pulled her and Draco's open and out fell a key, and a piece of paper. The paper read:

_House Number: 5_

_Street Name: Browning Street._

_Post Code: NY54 7FR._

_Residence: Hermione and Draco Malfoy._

The other four got ones similar with their addresses on and their keys. They looked, and noticed that they weren't quite next door neighbours. Ron lived across the road from Hermione and Harry lived two doors down. But it wasn't that far. The girls all seemed anxious to see their new homes and muttered a good bye, before running in various directions and using their newly acquired keys to open their doors. The three men stood there, uncomfortably, before following their 'wives' in to the homes.

All three of the homes were rather big, but they all where on this estate, and were painted in neutral colours: whites, creams, and beiges. Hermione walked around her home, pushing and pulling on various doors to see which ones would open, and those that weren't. There were only currently six rooms that opened: Their bedroom, a guest room, the kitchen, living room, dinning room and bathroom. But there were still five or six rooms that refused to open. Hermione remembered McGonagall telling them they'd be getting a letter when they arrived at their homes, by owl and decided to go and wait for it to arrive. It wasn't long after she'd sat down in the living room, that one did arrive. It dropped the letter on to Hermione's lap, and then sat down on an end table. Hermione read the letter, no caring if Draco were hear to read it or not. It said:

_Dear Mr and Mrs Malfoy,_

_We hope you like the house we picked out for you, and that it's close enough to your friends. Please reply back to this letter, telling me if you need anything for the house, or yourselves. There is another letter in the envelope, which explains more. Please make sure the pair of you read it carefully, then reply to my letter. _

_Good luck,_

_Minerva McGonagall._

Hermione placed the letter down on the sofa, and pulled the other letter out of the envelope and opened this one, it read:

_Welcome to the Muggle Life Style Course. Within this course, you will be expected to do various different things to pass, some of which will require you to work with your partner. To answer some of the questions I'm sure you have, look down._

"_How do I earn Money? Do I have to get a job?" _

_Well, the answer is: You earn money by completing tasks, you don't have to get a job, but it might be wise if you did. To bring in extra money, you never know when you are going to need it. Another way to earn money, is by getting a high grade on your Work, and essays._

"_How can I study for my Exams?" _

_You will be sent books and work from an unknown Wizard or Witch in your area, to return the work, simply leave it outside under a milk bottle, or such._

"_Do I have to work with my Partner?" _

_Yes, this is one of the reasons for the course, you have to work together and get past your differences to survive and pass the course._

"_What do I have to do to pass this course?"_

_Well, here is where the list comes in. Keep reading._

_Tasks:_

_Go on an outing with your partner. (You may take friends, if you desire)_

_Throw a small dinner party, both most work together with the preparations. _

_Buy a pet. Any house pet will suffice. _

_Go on a family outing (to be completed near the end of the course.)_

_Visit a landmark, or something to do with History._

_Redecorate any room in the house... (wait until at least two more doors are open)_

_Spend a weekend in a Hotel, in any location ( to be completed near the end of the course.)_

_Go on a shopping trip (To be completed any time after the first two days.)_

_Eat out at a restaurant._

_Order take out, and watch a film with family and friends (To be completed near the end.)_

_Go out to a nightclub, or pub. (To be completed when ever.)_

_Make two new friends, at least._

_Throw/attend a Christmas Party (To be Completed on Christmas Eve.)_

_Throw/attend a New Years Eve Party (To be Completed on New Years Eve.)_

_If anymore tasks are decided upon, you will be made aware of these changes, via your 'unknown wizard' by post. Please reply to say if you require anything for your homes. To start with, you will find a thousand Dollars within a kitchen drawer, this is for food shopping and other stuff you may require within the first few weeks, until you begin completing task and returning your work. As stated above, it might be wise, and beneficial for you, to get yourselves a job – even if it's only part time. If you are ever in serious trouble, and need to get in touch with someone, don't hesitate to send out your Patronus._

_As also mentioned, you have to work with your partner a lot. You have to convince those around you that you are a couple, that are happily married and in love. One of the above tasks is to purchase an animal. This animal can be of your choice, but it has to be family friendly – this means no Magical Animals or sorts. _

_The first task is an outing. This can count as anything from a trip to a mall, or to a day at the zoo. You have to make it clear you are going on an outing, and you have to have proof of this outing before you can cross it off the lists. When you send your owl back, with your required items, you'll also receive a camera, use it wisely._

_The dinner party you are required to throw only has to be small. Like a house warming party. You can complete this at any point through out the course. The minimum number of people is three guests._

_The Family outing. The title explains it, but you have to go somewhere family friendly, with over five of you,two of which have to be children. (May take more than two children.)_

_You may visit any landmark you choose, or anything to do with History. _

_The rest of the tasks, I'm sure, explain themselves and don't need further explaining. Every task must have photographic evidence._

_With Thanks,_

_Cornelius Fudge – Minister Of Magic_

_Minerva McGonagall – Headmistress of Hogwarts. _

**A/N2: Wow, that letter sure took up most of the story. I know it's probably disappointing, but I'm in pain right now, and it actually hurts me to type, I will try to get the other chapters out soon. If I feel better, anyway.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the wait, I've been having major internet problems. x**

Hermione put the List down on the sofa, and picked the envelope, there were another piece of parchment inside it, she carefully plucked it out, and read it.

Dear Mr & Mrs Malfoy.

All requirements on the list must be completed with your partner present, or else they will not count. We will know whether you have completed a task or not, but we wish for you to take pictures are evidence for us. You are to send us the camera, with out developing the film, when all tasks have been completed. I hope you have a good time, and remember - you're muggles. Now, even though it's legal in the Wizarding World. You are in America, and therefore have to be Twenty-One years of age before you are allowed to drink alcohol. How ever, you will be permitted in to a club, we've already arranged all these details with your Unknown Wizard, you will be allowed in to the club, like a normal adult, but you are prohibited from ordering anything alcoholic from the bar. You will receive certain updates, when you find something out, or a new part of the course becomes available for you.

I think that is all for now, look out for more mail.

Minevra McGonagall.

Hermione jumped slightly when Draco spoke.

"Is that from McGonagall?" He asked, looking at the letter over her shoulder. He grinned when he saw her jump.

"Yes, here." She passed him both letters, and stood up. "I'm going to look around the house, and see if I think we need anything." She told him, he nodded his head slightly, emerged in the letter. She walked in to one of the rooms, the Kitchen. It was a normal sized room, but looked larger. It had patio doors leading to the back garden, and windows placed strategically, to give the room more light. It was a light peach coloured paint that adorned the walls, and had a light beech wooden floor. Hermione smiled, it was nice. It already had appliances, and she couldn't spot anything it was in dire need for. She walked in to the next room, the dining room. In the middle was a large wooden table, dark in colour. The walls were a rich red, contrasting nicely with the peach of the Kitchen. There was a tall cabinet, with glass doors, filled with plates, and glasses. She carried on, going room to room. She toured upstairs before returning to the living room.

Draco had finished reading, and was currently trying to turn the T.V on.

"What is that?!" He asked, well, more like shouted, when Hermione walked through the door. "I can't figure out what these buttons are for. And that red light keeps blinking." He told her.

"It's a Television." She told him, smirking. It was weird how the tables were turned when someone leaves there territory, there comfort zones.

"What's Television?" He asked, looking clueless.

"A box, which shows moving pictures." She told him, walking over to it, and turning it on. Draco jumped backwards, and landed on his back on the floor, when the "box" started to talk. Hermione chuckled, "you're not scared, are you?" She asked, turning it back off.

"Nope!" He said, quickly, "it just scared me!"

"Sure." Hermione muttered, laughing still. Draco just glared at her, and stood back up.

"So, did you see anything we need?" He asked, trying to change the direction of the conversation.

"A few things." Hermione told him, "but it's nothing we can't live without."

"We should get it, saves us buying it." He told her, "but out of interest, what do we need?"

Hermione thought for a moment, then answered him.

"We could use a shower, 'cause we only have a bath at the moment, we need a spare bed, for the guest room - and we need three closets. One for the guest room, and two for our room." She told him.

Draco picked up on one part, more than the rest.

"What do you mean 'our room'?" He asked her, confused.

"We have to share a room again, like at Hogwarts." She told him, "unfortunately."

"Great... what else is this course gunna require?" He asked, rhetorically. Hermione shrugged.

"I'm as happy as you are about us having to share, and as soon as the spare bed comes, you are moving in to the spare room." She told him.

"Why I am going in the spare room?" He asked, frowning. "Why don't you go in the spare room?"

"Because, if it wasn't for your views on Muggleborns, I wouldn't be bothered if I had to share a bed with you. It's the fact that you degraded me over the years, and now, you're out of your territory, it's my turn to show you how we Muggles live, and you're going to like it. Agreed?" Hermione told him, glaring at him the whole time.

"Agreed." He muttered back. Although, if he had anything to do with it, he wasn't sleeping in that guest room.

"Good," Hermione smiled brightly, "I also suggest you get a job. Cause you aren't living on my salary, if I get a job, that is."

"Fine," he muttered, not liking the sound of getting a job.

"That's settled then." She smiled.

"What ever." Draco retorted, crossing his arms. Hermione wrote down a list of all the items they required, and sent it off with the owl, which had waited patiently waited for them on the end table.

She watched as the owl flew off, and then sat down on the sofa, Draco hesiently sat next to her, unsure of what to say now.

"What do we have to do first?" He asked.

"I say we either go shopping for food, and other stuff, or we look for a job, it's not that late here." Hermione told him.

"How do you know?" Draco asked, confused.

"Cause the part of America we are in is only five hours behind england, and the plane landed at about one in the afternoon, GMT time, so it's like seven in the morning now." She told him, smiling.

"Oh." He muttered, "come on then, I say we look for a job first."

"One minute." Hermione muttered, another owl had flown through the window, and Hermione walked over to pull the letter off it's leg, it wasn't a school animal, it was an unfamiliar one.

Two pieces of paper fell out, one with Hermione's on it, and the other Draco's. Hermione passed his to him, and opened her own. It said:

_Miss Granger (Or Mrs Malfoy - which ever you prefer.) Inclosed is a bank card, your pin number is: 9263 (or "wand")_

_From Unknowny x._

"What is it?" Draco asked, pulling a rectange piece of plastic out of the envelope.

"A bank card." She told him, "it's got our money on it.

"Oh, here you go, Mrs. H. Malfoy." Draco smirked, handing her the card, before pulling his own out.

Hermione blushed lightly, but didn't say anything.

**Updating may take a while, I've been extremely busy, and my internet went "BOOM!" So... O.o!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Alright, my internet is back up again, and stronger than before, so I should be able to update more. I know these chapters are short, but you get two tonight. It's just the other couples reactions to their homes.**

Ginny moaned, "Harry! Come on, I want to see the house." She said, dragging him forwards. He'd stopped just outside of the front door, and Ginny was sure it was just to irritate her.

"We are going to be here for a little over nine months, what's the rush?" He asked, grinning. That added to Ginny's suspicion.

"It's a new house!" She said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry chuckled, but walked inside the house smiling. He picked Ginny up, and carried her in to the living room, placing her down on the sofa gently.

"Huh?" She questioned, looking at him, "right, next room." She said, standing up. Harry pushed her lightly, so she fell back down on the sofa.

"Wait," he told her, laughing, "we're going to get a letter, and we might as well wait until we get instructions." He told her, opening one of the windows. Ginny just nodded, she didn't want to wait, she wanted to see where she would living for the rest of this course.

A few minutes after, a large barn owl swooped in to the house, and settled down near Ginny. Harry glanced at Ginny and slowly approched the bird before pulling the letter away softly. Ginny was practically bouncing in her seat, and biting her lip making Harry laugh.

"Calm down, Ginny." He said, amusement evident in his tone, "we can go look around the house in a minute. Just lets read the letter first." He scanned the letter quickly, his eyes darting side to side. His forehead would crease when he read something he didn't quite understand, but it'd smooth out again before Ginny could question it. He silently passed the letter to Ginny, and pulled out another short note from the Envelope. He finished reading this letter as well, and put it on the sofa next to Ginny - who had yet to finish the first letter. She finished it a few seconds later, and picked the other one up.

"Well, that clears that up, then." She said, placing the two letters back in their envelopes.

"Yeah, it does." Harry agreed, smiling, waiting for his "wife's" out burst.

"Harry..." She began, slowly.

"Yes?" He asked, chuckling.

"Can we go look around now? Please? Please, please?" She said, bouncing slightly, still sat on the sofa.

Harry laughed, and held his hand out for her to take, which she did. He pulled her up, and walked over to the door, her hand still within his. Ginny noticed this, and blushed slightly making Harry grin. He pulled her out of the room, and in to the kitchen. It was soft cream in colour, and it's floor was wooden, light beech in colour. Ginny smiled, and ran her fingers lightly over the surface of one of the kitchen counters.

"I like this room, it's nice." She said, softly.

"I agree," Harry said, absentmindedly, looking around. Ginny smiled, and walked further in to the room.

"It's bright, which is always good for a kitchen." She said, glancing out of the windows. Harry nodded in agreement, before Ginny led him out of the kitchen and in to the dining room. He smiled, watching as she looked around the room, interested in what it had to offer.

"It's nice, but I don't think I'd want to eat every meal in here..." She said, slowly.

"Yeah, me either - it seems too formal for a family dining room." He agreed, looking around. "Plus, it's only the two of us."

Ginny nodded, and walked out of the room, leaving Harry to follow her. She started up the stairs, slowly and turned in to one of the bedrooms.

"I call this room!" She said, as soon as she walked in.

"Damn! I want this room," Harry said, playfully. "How'd you know you want this room, you've not seen the rest of them yet."

"Well, we can both have this room then!" Ginny said ignoring Harry's last question, and walking in to the room fully.

"Fine," Harry said, grinning. "I like this room..."

Ginny nodded, walking over and sitting on the bed. "Comfy, as well." She muttered, spreading out on it.

Harry grinned, and jumped on to the bed, effectively bouncing Ginny, who rolled her eyes. He, like Ginny, spread out on the bed, and sighed.

"It _is_ comfy." He said, closing his eyes. "I call this side." He gestured to the side he were lay on.

"Good, because I want this side." Ginny said, also closing her eyes.

**A/N: Just so you are aware, the story will be focusing on Hermione and Draco, so it'll be rare I'll do chapters with the other ones. They'll always be mentioned, but I doubt they'll have many chapters to their selves.**


	13. Chapter 13

Ron watched as he two best friends, sister and enemy walked in their homes, before turning to Lavender - who was practically clawing at the door.

"Hurry up, Ron! I want to see my house!" She said, impatiently. Ron rolled his eyes, and walked forwards, pushing the key through the lock. He swung the door open, and was pushed aside almost instantly by an extremely eager Lavender. He sighed, and slowly followed her inside. She was rushing in between the three rooms, running in and out of them.

"Ooh! Ron, come here!" She shouted, this time in the Kitchen. Ron sighed, and trudged in to the room. "Isn't it nice?" Lavender asked, quickly.

"Eh? Yeah, I suppose." Ron said, carefully, unsure whether or not she'd start running around again. Lavender nodded happily. It was very similar to Harry and Ginny's kitchen, but the walls and floor were many shades darker, giving it an older appearance. The windows were much larger to compensate for this fact.

"I just love the colours," she said, excitedly. "Come look at this room!" Lavender squealed, before running off in to the living room. Ron sighed again, before cautiously following her. He walked in, and had to admit that it was nice, definitely livable. Lavender was bouncing around the room, and Ron sighed - he had to live with her for nearly nine months! Good lord, kill him now! Still bouncing, Lavender was upstairs, and heading in to one of the bedrooms, Ron rolled his eyes, following her. He knew if he didn't follow her, she'd just shout him anyway and make him come up. He followed her in to the room, and saw her stepping in to one of the closets, probably to see how much shopping she were allowed to do. None - if Ron had anything to do with it. She wasn't blowing their money on clothes she didn't need, unless she got a job and spent her own money. Ron, still stood at the doorway, could hear a distant pecking noise coming from downstairs. He frowned before walking slowly down the stairs. As he got closer he could tell the noise was coming from the living room, and when he got there, there were a large barn owl pecking impatiently at the window waiting to be let in. He walked over slowly, and pushed the window open. The owl flew in almost instantly, and perched on the window sill, offering it's leg out. Ron reached over and untied the letter, absentmindedly stroking the owls feathers. He walked away from the Owl, and it flew in to the room, now perched on the sofa.

"Lavender!" Ron shouted up that stairs.

"What?" She asked, sounding fed up.

"Owl from McGonagall, come here please!" He said, rolling his eyes and walking back in to the living room. He heard Lavender huff, and could hear the floor boards signalling movement from the upstairs. She appeared at the door way a few seconds later, and stood next to Ron. He slit the envelope open slowly, and pulled the parchment out unfolding it, carefully. He placed it inbetween the pair of them, so they could read it together.

"We should go shopping." Lavender said, as soon as she'd finished reading.

"We can't. It says we have to do that _after _the first two days." Ron said, slowly, his eyes scanning down the list still.

"Yeah, but we won't be shopping for the tasks, it'll be for fun." She said, excitedly.

"Remind me again, how is shopping fun?" Ron asked, a slight huff to his voice. Lavender ignored his question and rolled her eyes.

"Do you want to eat or drink for the next two days, because if you do, I suggest we go shopping!" Lavender said, annoyed. She walked in to the kitchen, and pulled the drawers open until she found the money the letter had mentioned. She handed it to Ron - even she knew her limits.

"Fine, shall we see if the others want to go? It's probably not safe for us to wander off alone, until we know where we're all meant to be going." Ron asked, pocketing the money. Lavender nodded.

"Yeah, but not yet. It's early. I don't think the Mall would be open yet." Lavender said, walking over to where they'd left their suitcases. Ron was confused.

"How'd you know it's early?" He asked, his brow furrowed.

"There's a clock in the kitchen, Ron." Lavender told him, sighing. Ron looked around, and spotted the clock. He sighed and went to join Lavender - picking up both his and her cases.

"Wanna unpack?" He asked, taking the stairs.

"That was the idea." Lavender replied, rolling her eyes. "If we're going shopping, I need to get changed. I only wore these rags because I didn't want to ruin or crease anything!" She told Ron, pointing to her clothes. Ron shook his head, and unzipped his case, then walking over and opening the closet, and top drawers.

Lavender had already started to orginise her clothes in to piles, making Ron shake his head again.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Okay. I know. It took me ages to get out. Like I've said before, I'm in year ten at school, and I'm entering my GCSE year in September. I've been working all through the year, and my stories have been abandoned. I'm hopefully getting them back up now though, as I've six weeks and nothing to do.**

Hermione and Draco were in the middle of arguing when Harry, Ginny, Lavender and Ron had shown up to see if they'd like to join them on the Food Shopping outing.

"No!" Hermione, said, pointing to the corner. "Put it there!"

"It'll look stupid there, you dumb witch," Draco said, trying to keep his voice calm, but slightly failing on that one. "It goes here." He stomped his foot for effect, making Hermione frown. He was such a girl.

She stepped forwards, and Draco stepped backwards, he still didn't want her to hit him, he knew she had a mean hit, for a girl. He considered just giving in, and letting her put the lamp where she wanted it. Yes, they were arguing over a lamp┘how pathetic, aye? Well, it is Hermione and Draco, you know, mortal enemies? He then realised what he was thinking, and then changed his mind quickly, the hell he was going to give in. She'd think she'd won then, technically she had won if he did that, and he didn't want her thinking she had something over him, and that she could intimidate him...once again, though, she could intimidate him.

"Back off, witch." He said slowly, backing away still. He didn't want to be hit by her again at all, so he was going to try and protect himself, no matter what the cost. He didn't see why she wanted the lamp there anyway, it would look stupid, and there was enough stuff in that corner. There was a bookshelf and a chair...and Draco had only just got why she wanted the lamp in that corner... So she could read. He felt like a right dolt, but of course, he wasn't going to admit this either. He didn't want Hermione thinking he was dumb. He was kind of dumb, but that wasn't the point. The point, right now, was that Hermione was not winning.

Hermione, on the other hand, had other ideas. She was going to win this, no matter the cost. Even if it meant that Draco could never have children again. She hadn't noticed that her two friends had entered her house when she hadn't answered the door, and were currently stood there watching, slightly amused. No, scratch that, very amused. It was funny watching these two argue.

"Listen here, you little pureblooded twonk, it will go in that corner, and it will stay there, do you understand?" Her voice was low, and her eyes feirce, but alas, Draco only heard two words.

"You think I'm little?" He asked, as he towered over her frame, "Forget that actually...what the hell is a 'twonk'?" He was confused, was it some Muggle insult he'd never heard or something? He wasn't sure about this one.

Hermione scowled, "It's a --" She paused, and her brow furrowed slightly, "I don't actually know...There's a few different meanings for it," She admitted, "It's an insult though." Her voice got quieter as she thought about it. Where did that word come from? Was she really that sleep deprived. She'd only heard it once or twice, and it wasn't like her to use a word that she didn't know the meaning off.

Harry felt it time to step in, "Um... if you could just divert your attention from the lamp, and Hermione's vocabulary for a few short seconds, we have a question we'd like to ask." He asked, rolling his eyes at the pair.

Hermione's head snapped towards them, along with Draco's, both forgetting their arguement of sorts, and more concentrated on the fact that there were four people in their home. Four people that they didn't know had entered their home.

"Harry, Ron, Lavender, Ginny." Hermione said, her eyes going over the person as she spoke their name, "Hi..." She was unsure what she'd done now. Had they found something.

"Hermione!" It was Lavender's high, and excited voice that made everyone in the room wince from the pain their eardrums were in. No normal human should be able to screech that high, "We were just wondering if you wanted to go shopping? It's only food shopping, but it's a start..." She trailed off, her voice sounded disapointed that they could only shop for food at this stage, and not everything else that was un-needed.

Hermione turned to look at Draco, and shrugged, she supposed it was up to him as well, she was not about to leave him in the house when he didn't have a clue what anything was, she'd come home to her house being burnt down or something, and she didn't want to have to explain why she'd killed Draco, and they had no house. She had a feeling she'd get in a little trouble with that one.

Draco shrugged, he didn't know. He was going to do partly as he was told when it came to going out whilst here. He didn't want to get lost in the Muggle world, he had no idea what anything was and he couldn't even use his wand, so for lack of better word, he'd be buggered.

Hermione turned back to Lavender and nodded, "Sure," she said, "We could use some groceries anyway." She assumed Draco wanted to live, and she knew she did, therefore they'd need supplies.

Lavender clapped her hands happily, then looked at Hermione, "Where do we go to go shopping?" She asked slowly. She wasn't too sure on that one. That was where she was stuck. Hermione might know, with her being Muggle born, but she wasn't sure that she'd ever been to America before, they didn't really talk much, they'd spoken a few times, but they weren't extremely close friends.

Hermione shrugged, "I'd say we get a cab down there, then just find the nearest mall, shouldn't be that hard. A mall usually has most of the shops we'll need in them." She told them, looking for the nearest phone. She found one hung on the wall, near the door way, and on a table underneath it was a list of cab numbers. Handy, eh? She turned to the group, and placed her finger over her lips, signalling, "shh" before dialing the number in. She spoke queitly, referring to her paper when they asked for her address. How was she supposed to know it? She'd just moved here. She hung up a not long after and turned back to her friends, and enemy.

"It'll be here in about ten minutes, I suggest you all make sure you've got everything you need." She said, before looking at Draco, "Get a coat on. I am not looking after you when you get a cold." She turned and walked in to the kitchen, not before hearing Draco's reply,

"Hell no." He said, pulling a face at Hermione's back, "I do nothing you tell me." He was going to be adament now, he wasn't wearing a coat at all.

Hermione returned to the living room, having picked up the money from the kitchen drawer, her eyes narrowed slightly, and she growled out lowly, "Get. A. Coat. Now." Her voice slightly threatening.

Draco, remembering that he had to spend nine months with this girl, decided it'd be better not to get on her bad side, and therefore he should just do as she says, which meant he had to get a coat. He heard a few chuckles of amusement as he hurried out of the room, and scrowled. Stupid Muggle Born witch. Bossing him around, and making him look less masculine. He returned to the room a few minutes later, after arguing with himself about where he put all his coats. There was a faint honk outside, which signalled that the taxi was here. Hermione turned to them all smiled,

"On we go." She said, heading to the door.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Feel free to kill me, or kick my ass. I never forgot about it, by my computer died, then I just lost all will, because everytime I tried to do it, Open Office froze up on me, and just stressed me out too much. **

**I'm writing the next one now, so it should be here soon.**

All six of them stepped outside, and Hermione turned to lock the front door. The others made their way to the taxi, which turned out to be a minicab – at least all six of them could fit in it this way, Hermione wasn't sure how the driver knew what they'd need though, she didn't recall telling him.

"I am _not_ sitting next to Malfoy." Ron said, after Draco had climbed in.

"Me neither." Harry agreed, so he had to be in the same place as Malfoy, it didn't mean he had to be friendly and sit next to him.

"Oh for crying out loud." Hermione huffed, she pushed her way past the two guys, and climbed in next to Draco, who immediately budged up. "You won't catch anything, you know." She muttered, angrily.

The rest clambered in after them, and Hermione gave the driver their destination. She sat back, and pulled something out of her pocket, it was the list of tasks they'd have to do.

"Hey, we could class this as the outing, and have one task complete." She said, looking at Harry and Ron, "Ah... We need a camera, to take evidence."

Harry blinked, "When were we supposed to get our cameras?" He asked, slowly.

"When we get the items we required." Hermione read, "Meaning next time McGonagall gets in touch with us."

The taxi driver turned around, as he pulled to a stop at a red light, "Hey...Are you the guys from the course?" He asked, looking over them.

"Eh..Yeah." Harry replied, how did he know? He was only a taxi driver, it wouldn't be that big of news, that three couples were moving in to houses, and he wouldn't know about wizards or Hogwarts.

"I was asked to give you these," he said, throwing a bag towards Harry, "Don't have a clue what's in them, but there you go, I've done my task." He turned around, and put the car back in motion, and continued to their destination.

Hermione took the bag off Harry, who'd not bothered to open it, and looked inside it. She put her hand in it, and pulled out three cameras. "Looks like someone knew we were going out, and how we were traveling around." She said, throwing one camera to Ginny, and one to Lavender. "Least we can get one of our tasks done."

Lavender squealed, "Maybe there's a pet store at the mall, and we could get a pet, and complete two tasks in the same day, at least we wouldn't have to worry about it afterwards, and we could get all the stuff we'd need for it now, whilst we have the money."

Ginny nodded animately from the row in front, "I agree with Lavender, and no offence, Lav, but I think that's the most intelligent thing I've heard you say." Hermione had to agree with Ginny, after sharing a dorm with Lavender for six years, that had to be the most intelligent thing she'd heard.

"Yeah I'm sure they'd be a pet store, but what pet are you going to get?" Hermione asked Ginny, frowning slightly, it had to be a friendly one.

"Uhh... a dog." She said, she looked at Harry to see if he agreed, and when he nodded, she smiled, "What about you?" She asked, looking at Hermione then Lavender.

"Cat, I think." Hermione said, not even bothering to ask Draco. She knew no matter what pet they got, that she'd be the one looking after it so she was choosing it too. She hoped their was one that took a dislike to Draco, at least she wouldn't be the only one in the house then.

"We should get a cat, Ronald, don't you think?" Lavender asked, her voice high, probably at the prospect of shopping.

"Sure, whatever you want." Ron said, rubbing his ear. He didn't really care what animal he got, if it made Lavender stop squealing for a few hours, then it was fine.

The cab came to a stop not long after, and the six students climbed back out of the car, and looked at the building, it was tall, but looked like it held quiet a few shops. Lavender had been out of the car less than ten seconds before she was speed walking to the door, she didn't want to waste any time just standing outside it.

"Ron, come on!" She cried, waving him over.

"We should all split up, and meet back out here in two hours, that should be long enough." Hermione said quickly, then when she noticed the look that Ron was giving her she added, "If it's not enough, use as much force as needed to get your partner out of the shop."

Ron nodded and walked in the shop after Lavender explaining everything to her as they walked. Ginny turned to Harry,

"Come on then, we best get going. We need to actually buy stuff," She turned, and began to walk off, with Harry following her. Hermione put the camera in her bag and turned to Draco, who looked like he might faint.

"Two hours?" He asked, "Two full hours in that place?"

"Oh Malfoy, it's not that bad." She said, walking off, "Plus, I'm not a big shopper." So that was a slight lie, Hermione liked shopping but she wouldn't torture him with it just yet, she had to gain his trust, then on the last week here, she could drag him around a shop for hours, and scar him for life. She turned around fully, and entered the shop, letting Malfoy follow slowly behind, his footsteps dragging.


	16. Chapter 16

Hermione waited for Draco to catch up with her as soon as she entered the doors, Ginny, Lavender and the guys were out of sight, so Hermione assumed they'd all ran off to shop, after all, the girls weren't allowed to go on a proper shopping trip for at least two days, and that would more than likely be hard for Lavender with all these shops near by, and all the well known brands. Even if they were Muggle brands, Lavender being who she was would probably know them, and know which were the best ones to buy. Hermione didn't see what the deal with shopping was. Don't get her wrong, she liked it, and thought it was fun, but Lavender seemed to like it too much, and she wasn't sure what appealed to her.

Draco took as long as he could, he didn't want to enter the shop, he didn't want to be dragged around, and forced to look at stuff that doesn't interest him, but then again he didn't really see Hermione as a girlie girl who loved shopping. She seemed more relaxed, and not as excited as Lavender was. Dare Draco say it? He was actually slightly sorry for Ron, having to put up with Lavender for two hours, and Draco was sure she wouldn't waste a second of those two hours. He didn't even know the girl, but that was the impression she gave off. He reached her after a few seconds, and sighed.

"Well come on," he said, "you know what your doing around here. I don't." He pushed his hands in to his jeans pockets, sulked a little. He hated shopping, it was boring, and never fun. And he didn't get what they were supposed to take pictures of in a shop for the evidence to prove that they'd been on an outing? He was sure however that Hermione would think of something, she'd proven to be quite clever in their previous years at Hogwarts. Maybe she'd be just as smart here as well, Draco sure hoped so, as he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to be doing. He knew nothing about what they might need, if they wanted to live for the next few weeks. Sure he knew they needed food, but he wasn't sure what type of food – Muggles had some different stuff.

Hermione had walked off whilst Draco had been thinking, and he only noticed when she had to shout him, again for him to catch up and follow her. He did so immediately, he didn't want to become lost in the shop, it looked big and he wasn't sure he'd find his way out of here once he got lost. He walked over to her, and noticed that she'd collected a shopping trolley. He frowned and took it off her, and began to push it.

"Malfoy, what are you doing?" Hermione asked, somewhat confused and slightly peeved, "Why'd you take it off me?"

"Do you want it back?" He asked, confused, he looked around and checked, "All the other men around here are pushing them, so I assumed that I had to as well."

Hermione sighed, "Push it if you want, but no you don't have to. It just gets the shopping put in them so we can carry it around the store."

Draco shrugged, he didn't really care what he did, he wanted this over with so that he could just go back to his new house, and wait for this course to end. He wasn't sure why he even had to take it, it wasn't like he ever planned on becoming a Muggle, or marrying one. He followed Hermione around the store, and decided that he hated shopping already. She'd not put anything in the trolley yet, and they'd been shopping for at least five minutes.

Hermione led Draco in to the food part, and began to take things down off the shelves, she held them in her arms, and looked around, there was no point in walking over to Draco to put them in the trolley, she'd wait until he came over to her, before he did that.

"What are you buying?" Draco asked, stopping the trolley at the side of her, and watching as she dumped in items in it.

"Food," she replied, "i don't know what you like, so if you see anything, just tell me." She walked off, still adding little things to the trolley.

"I'm not fussed about what I eat." Draco told her, following her. She'd led him all over, and after she'd filled up nearly the entire trolley, did she lead him to the house wear section. She'd gone to the bathroom isle first, and picked up the essentials – Shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, soaps and other similar stuff. She was even nice enough to find Draco an aftershave and deodorant, as he had no idea what he was supposed to be looking for. She turned to walk away from that isle, and a bit further down when she suddenly couldn't hear the trolley's wheels anymore, she turned around and looked at Draco who'd frozen with a glare on his face.

"Why'd you stop?" Hermione asked, lifting one eyebrow.

"You are not taking me in to that part of this shop." Draco replied stubbonly. Hermione had made her way down in to the feminine supplies, and even Draco knew what that meant. He was not going near that stuff, he was a guy – and that stuff scared the hell out of him. He didn't want to have to handle that at such an early age, it could cause trauma and stress in later life.

"Oh stop being such a baby," Hermione tried not to laugh, and turned around, continuing to walk. She did have to get some supplies if she was going to stay here for almost nine months. Draco sighed, and had to follow her. He didn't want to get lost in here, it was too big, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to find his way out.

Hermione put something in the trolley, and Draco looked to see what he was, he frowned, and picked up the small box, before he blinked, and froze.

"Granger – do these have to go in with the food?" He snarled out, still not putting the box down.

"They're in a box!" This time, she laughed a little – but it was mainly at his expression. She had an idea, and reached in to her bag, pulling out the small camera. It was evidence they'd been shopping, and Hermione found it too funny to not have a picture of. She snapped it quickly and laughed again, bringing Draco out of his stupor.

"Unfair." He muttered darkly, before walking past her. She grinned, and picked up a few more boxes, all different colours, and followed him, dumping the other boxes in the trolley when she reached him.

"Can we pay for these and leave now?" He asked, his voice whining.

"No, it's no where near time, we'd be stood outside in the cold for ages if we leave now. We can look at more stuff we might need for the house, whilst we have the money." Hermione led him in to another area of the store, and Draco was relieved to see it was just a normal area. It was full of towels and bedding.

"We might as well buy more bedding, and some towels to make sure we have enough." She said, picking a few off the shelves, and placing them on top of different items.

"Granger, do you think this trolley is full enough?" Draco asked, watching as she played tetris with the towels and bed linen.

"Yeah, actually." She said with a sigh. "This money isn't going to last us long, so it might be a good idea to find a job soon." She added.

Draco nodded, he agreed with her, and he knew that they didn't really have a lot if they wanted to live, and he wasn't sure how much Hermione had spent, and how much they'd need until they were both paid. He knew they could earn money by completing their essays from school, and completing tasks. They all planned on completing at least two tasks tonight, so that should get them some money. Draco just hoped they had enough, he wasn't familiar with Muggle currency, so he decided to leave it up to Hermione – she had to be better at it than he was.

They walked through the last couple of isles, with Hermione making sure they had all the important stuff they needed, like toilet roll, and kitchen supplies. She even brought on dinner wear set, she hadn't checked in the cupboards before she'd left so she couldn't remember if they had any plates or glasses. When she checked back on her watch, she was surprised to see they'd been shopping for just over an hour, but even more surprised that she hadn't bumped in to anyone, as she passed.

"We still have about half an hour before the other groups have to meet us," Hermione told Draco as she made her way to the check out, "Maybe we should look at some of the other shops in the Mall, and see what there is." It was also a chance for her to see if any of the shops had any job vacancies. She didn't mind what she worked at for the moment, she just needed something to bring in money.

"Yeah." Draco said, if it kept Hermione busy, then he didn't care all that much, plus Hermione had made a point before, and looking around in a shop did beat standing outside in the cold, and Draco wasn't too sure that Lavender would be willing to leave after only two hours of shopping, and wouldn't be surprised if she tried to cause a scene.

Hermione started to load the items on to the checkout belt, with Draco's help, and took the money out of her bag, she pulled of a small wad, and quickly stuffed the rest away, she didn't want to spend more than two hundred dollars, but wasn't sure if she'd managed to budget that. She'd brought mainly food, though, and the shop wasn't that much – things seemed cheaper in England though, but that was probably due to the currency rate.

Finally, everything was scanned, and packed in to a bag, even with Draco carrying most of the bags, Hermione's arms were full, as they walked out of the shop. Hermione dragged Draco deeper in to the mall, looking at all the shop windows and doors, until she saw what she needed.

_Employers wanted._

_See in store._

_No experience necessary._

It was a clothes shop, but it was still a job, and it would do her until she could find a better job.

"Wait here," Hermione instructed, placing the bags she held on the floor at Draco's feet, before pushing the shop door open.

Draco sighed, now wasn't the time to be clothes shopping. Draco hoped he didn't have a slightly calmer version of Lavender, even a calm version would be too much to handle. He was relived when Hermione exited the shop not long after without any bags or any new clothing on.

"Why'd you go in there?" He asked, as she picked up her bags.

"I've just got a job." She said excitedly. Draco smiled, at least they had money coming in some how, he'd look for his job soon.

"They just gave you a job?" He asked, surprised.

"Well, no." She admitted, "I'm on a trail run, and they want to see some sort of CV, I have to take it in with me tomorrow morning."

Draco nodded, "Can we go now?" He asked, wanting to get out of here.

"Yeah sure." Hermione smiled, and began to look for the way out of the mall.

**A/n: Alright. That was long... for me. Not all the chapters are going to be this long, and this one only got so many words because I didn't see the point in braking it all up, as it wouldn't make sense for me to do that when it all fit in one chapter. Hope you enjoyed. Look forwards to hearing you thoughts.**


	17. Chapter 17

When Hermione and Draco made it outside, Draco was supporting a cat basket in one hand, and had a few shopping bags in the other. Hermione had been considerate and took some of the bags off him. They'd passed a pet shop on their way out, and Hermione remembered that they were supposed to buy a pet – she just wondered if the others had. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Lavender were waiting for them, just outside the shop – Hermione noticed them instantly. Lavender had a scowl on her face which made Hermione believe that she'd been dragged away from shopping when she wasn't ready too, but she found it hard to believe that she was the last one out of the shop when Lavender was around.

"There you are," Harry said, walking up to her, "How come you were so long?"

"Oh, I looked around in other stores too," Hermione told him, smiling, she wasn't going to tell him that she had a job just yet, as she might not be able to keep it, it depends on if she could come up with a good CV by tomorrow morning.

"Oh." Harry said, "Well, I called a cab, no one else here knew how to do it,"

Hermione smiled, and nodded. She was glad Harry had called a cab, it meant that they didn't have to stab outside for too long, her arms were really beginning to hurt, the bags were digging in to her skin, and her fingers felt slightly numb.

"Did you guys get a pet?" Hermione asked, looking at the bags that scattered the floors near her friends feet.

"Yup," both girls replied, at the same time. It was then that Hermione noticed a lead in Ginny's hand, and when she looked around, saw a little head poke out between Ginny's feet. She couldn't see Lavender's pet, until Lavender pointed to a pink case, on the ground. A little cat basket. It looked like they'd all brought baby animals. Hermione's cat was small, and had only just been separated from it's mother, she wondered if Lavender had a kitten from the same litter. Ginny's dog was a small boxer dog, still with it's tail and it's ears unpinned.

"Gin, you do know that dog is gunna be big?" Hermione asked.

"Yup." Ginny replied, smiling. She liked bigger dogs, and Harry didn't seem to have a problem with it, he claimed he liked them too, although Ginny wasn't sure if he was just saying that because she'd take an interest to the dog.

Draco looked at Hermione, "I don't see why I have to carry the cat, when you wanted it." He scowled.

"It's the family cat," Hermione told him, "so you can carry it."

"We're not a family!" He exclaimed.

"We are now." Hermione reminded him.

Draco just rolled his eyes, and turned away from her. He was slightly annoyed that the school would partner him up with such an insufferable person, it wasn't fair. He was never that bad behaved, and it wasn't like he got bad grades or anything, his grades were quite good.

Once again, it was a minibus that arrived to take them all home. They all scambled in with their shopping, and sat down in a seat. Ginny sat next to Hermione this time, and Draco had to sit next to Lavender. Great, a squealing girl – just what he needed. Luckily for him, she didn't talk, she sat their playing with her kitten. Draco felt bad for the poor fellow already, he had that baboon, Weasley, and then he had Lavender to look after him, what a poor life that cat shall lead. He had a feeling the cat was going to be babied by her, and he wouldn't surprised if she dressed the cat up, and paraded him around like a child.

They reached their street, and all climbed out at the top, Hermione, Ginny and Lavender went to open their front doors, and bid their goodbyes to each other, leaving the boys to carry all the shopping in. The girls had been slightly considerate though, they carried the animals in to their homes, but that was only because none of them trusted the boys not to drop something.

Hermione was the first in to her house, as hers were closest. She walked in, making sure to leave the door open to make it easier for Draco, and placed the cat down in the living room. She watched as it ran around sniffing it's surroundings. Draco walked in, and the cat flinched from the noise he was making. Hermione sighed, and walked in to the kitchen to help Draco unpack, she had an idea that he wouldn't know where to put anything. He was hopeless at everything.

After everything was put away in the correct cupboard, and the plates had been washed, before they were used, Hermione decided to feed the cat, and put dinner on for her and Draco. It was heading on to twelve pm, and they'd wasted more time than they thought. She wasn't exactly sure just what she was going to make for dinner, because she didn't know what Draco liked, and what he didn't like. He was too fussy for Hermione's likings, so instead she opted to cook a pizza. It was simple, didn't take too long, and she was sure Draco might like it. It was plain, and she'd seen him eat tomatoes, cheese and bread before now, it was exactly the same thing. She rumaged through the freezer, and pulled one out, removing the plastic wrapper, and placing it on a baking tray. She placed it in the oven, then turned it on before walking back in to the living room.

She noticed Draco lay on the floor, and was stroking the kitten. She had to smile, it was actually cute. The kitten was lay on her back, her paws up, and Draco was tickling her stomach. Hermione watched as the kittens face scrunched up, but before she could tell Draco to move, the cat's claws sunk in to Draco's hand, and he yelled out.

"Tigger!" He cried, "Naughty!"

Hermione raised her eyebrow, and walked out again. So their kitten had a name, did it? Tigger? She supposed it was fitting in some respects.

**A/N: Hey hey, so, who likes Fanfictions new Login Page? I dun.. it confused me. Big time. XD**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Not a very eventful chapter, but it helps Draco and Hermione's relationship a little. Thank you all to those who reviewed, and wow, I'm kinda near a hundred now, ain't I? Thanks a lot guys! All reviews are appreciated. **

Lunch had been a quiet affair for Hermione, as she guessed, Draco did like pizza, but as he didn't know how to work the oven, he'd kept out of her way and let her get on with it. Hermione was grateful for that, as she wasn't sure she'd be able to stand Draco getting in her way every couple of seconds in the kitchen, she wasn't a very good cook as it was, and having Draco distracting her wouldn't be a very good idea.

After it had cooked, she's taken it in, on two separate plates, and placed it in front of him. He was sat on the sofa, sulking over the fact that Tigger had made his hand bleed, he'd also refused to speak, pet, or look at the cat again after that. He looked at his plate, and then looked at Hermione.

"What's this?" He asked, curious.

"Pizza, just eat it." She instructed, sitting next to him. Tigger jumped up, and curled herself up on the arm of the chair, next to Hermione. Draco scowled, and turned away.

"Why should I eat it?" He asked, crossing his arms, pushing the plate to his knees.

"Do you want to cook for yourself, we don't have House Elves here."

Draco decided that Hermione had a point, and that he'd trust her cooking and eat what she gave him, after all, he didn't know how Muggles cooked. He looked at her, and sae her eating, and pulled the plate back up towards himself, slowly.

After he'd finished eating, Hermione had taken his plate off him again, and took it in to the kitchen, placing them in the sink.

"How'd you like it?" She asked, when she'd re-entered the room.

"It's edible." He told her, turning to Tigger, "Are you going to behave now?" The cat looked at him, and jumped off the sofa, walking over to Hermione and nudging her legs with its head. Hermione bent down, and lifted the cat up,

"What's the matter, Tigger?" She asked, "Did Draco upset you when he shouted at you?"

Tigger merely meowed, and batted her paw towards Hermione. Draco watched, amused, he was certain that Tigger would turn and bite her too, but huffed when Hermione pulled Tigger to her body and held her on to her shoulder. Tigger purred in to Hermione's ear, and curled herself around Hermione.

"Granger, how in Merlin's name did you get her to do that?" Draco asked, his eyes narrowing at that traitorous cat.

"Cats can pick up on peoples emotions," Hermione informed him, "maybe you were in an angry mood, or maybe the cat somehow knows how much of a prat you are, and how you get off on insulting people."

Draco just sighed, and stood up, "I'm going to look around upstairs," he said, stomping out of the living room and heading to the stairs. Hermione's hand ran over Tigger's head, before she pulled the cat off her shoulder and deposited it carefully on the sofa. Tigger curled back up, and closed her eyes, getting ready to nap. Hermione had to smile, before she turned around and headed off upstairs, she wanted to have a bath.

She wondered, as she ran her bath, when the school was going to give her the desired items, the shower and the spare bed, she wasn't looking forwards to having to share a room with him, but she could at least have some fun with it.

She shut the bathroom door, after retrieving a towel, and sunk in to the hot water.

Draco had took his suitcase upstairs, and was unpacking in to their shared room, and taken the time to look around it. It was nice, and it was rather big, which he was glad for, at least he'd have his own room, and could have his stuff out where he pleased.

There was one large, king-sized bed in the room, two bedside cabinets, and two large sets of drawers. He remembered Hermione saying she was asking for three closets, so there'd be more space to put all his clothes, which he was glad for. He'd brought a lot of stuff with him, and he wanted to be able to out it all out, without having to dig through his suitcase everyday, looking for a clean set of clothes.

He chose the side of the bed he wanted, and filled up the side cabinets with some of his underwear, and his personal stuff, like deodorant. Hermione could have the other side, and if she was that bothered, she could sleep on the sofa.

Hermione had taken a pair of clothes in to the bathroom with her, and she'd changed in to them when she'd gotten out of the bath. She walked in to their bedroom, and found Draco lay on the bed, she threw herself down next to him, and closed her eyes.

"I've unpacked my stuff, that's your side of the bed now." Draco informed her, not opening his eyes.

"Kay," Hermione mumbled, "I wanted this side anyway, so it's all good,"

Draco just nodded, and squirmed under the covers, he was tired now, and he thought it might have something to do with the fact he was used to English time, not American. It was about six pm in England, and they'd gotten up early, so he wanted to nap. He normally did anyway, after dinner at Hogwarts; he'd go in to the common room, and go to his bed, and have a short nap, before going out in the evening with some of he other Slytherins, to walk around the grounds and to try and get the Gryffindors in to trouble. He liked to think that he'd matured in his last year though, and he's stopped going around to get people in to trouble. He still napped though, Draco really liked his sleep and he hated it when he was prevented from getting it.

Hermione was tired, and she wasn't sure why, she'd napped on the plane, but she thought it might have something to do with the bath, and the fact that it had relaxed her to the point where she wanted to sleep, she copied Draco's movements, and pulled the covers over her, turning over and keeping her eyes closed, she allowed sleep to snatch her, she didn't plan on sleeping for too long, just an hour, to recharge herself.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Sorry about the amazingly long delay. Mega hectic at school. Forgive me? I only have about three weeks left, and then I get a holiday soo… (:

**I had to write this during my Sep. Science and BTEC ICT lessons, so you best love me :P **

Hermione woke up to a loud banging, and groaned. Wasn't the best sound to wake up to, and she was confused as to what it was. She sat up, and looked down at the person beside her, her eyes wide. Draco! She was sure that the day's event was just a crazy dream; because of something she'd eaten before going to bed. Obviously not, she sighed and pulled herself out of bed, realising that the banging was just the front door, and it was probably one of the boys asking how to do something, or how to turn the washer on.

She ran down the stairs, trying to get to the door before the banging woke Draco up, and she couldn't be bothered listening to his moaning that her friends had woke up him.

She unlocked the door, picking Tigger up to prevent her from running outside and putting her in the living room – shutting the door, and opened the front door mid knock. Harry was stood there with his fist raised, Ron stood behind him looking kind of gormless.

"Yes, Harry, Ron?" She asked, politely, trying to smooth her hair down.

Harry just looked at her with a raised eyebrow, and put his arm down. "Well… I needed to speak to you, and you didn't answer, so I thought you were busy killing Malfoy… and yeah, the police or Hogwarts wouldn't take to well to that, to be honest."

Hermione laughed lightly, "Naw, I was asleep." She said, shaking her head, "If I was going to kill Draco, I wouldn't do it in a foreign country. After all, I don't know how strict the laws are in this country and that would be stupid of me."

Harry nodded, "Well, now I know you're alive, and I don't really care much about Malfoy, can I ask you what I originally came here for?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "What's up? You've lived as a Muggle for as long as I have, what could you possibly be stuck with?"

Ron moved forwards, "No, I'm here to ask you the Muggle stuff, Harry's here for a different reason."

Now Hermione was just confused, "Harry…?" She prompted, wanting to know.

"Well," He said slowly, then began to speak faster, "Ginny kicked me out for the night because I left my clothes in the middle of the floor, she told me that if I didn't know how to keep the place clean then I should find somewhere else to stay so I was kind of wondering if I could kip on your sofa, just for the night?"

Ron smiled, "Ginny gets more like mum, everyday."

Harry just swore. "I'm thinking I should go to the Real estates tomorrow."

Hermione laughed, "Yeah course you can Harry." She opened the door wider, to allow him in.

"Don't go upstairs yet, let me tell Draco first." She warned.

Harry nodded, and walked in, and Ron turned to Hermione.

"Lavender says the big black box in the living room is a tele-box…but we can't figure out how we're supposed to turn it on…"

Hermione laughed and shook her head. "There's a button on the front of it, a big one. Kind of shiny, push it in, and it should turn on. If a small red light comes on, get the square remote, with all the buttons on, and press the red one. You'll get picture and sound then. It scared the hell out of Draco."

Ron smiled, "Thanks, 'Mione. I'll try and figure stuff out for myself but it's a bit hard at the moment 'cos I don't have any idea of what these things do."

Hermione smiled back, "It's okay." She said, "I don't mind helping you…just, next time if I don't answer, accept that I might not be in, or that I'm busy… or something! Don't keep banging on the door."

It was Ron's turn to laugh, "I promise."

Hermione smiled, and watched as Ron walked away, heading back to his before shutting the door and walking in to the living room to find Harry. He was sat on the sofa.

"So what happened?" Hermione asked, having a feeling that she was going to be entertained by his story.

Harry sighed, "I got in the bath, and left my clothes in a pile on the floor. I forgot the move them, and Ginny got mad at me. She told me that if I couldn't keep the place clean then I wasn't allowed to stay there. I moved them, and she said I did it out of sarcastic means, and told me she didn't want to see my face tonight, and that I had to go somewhere else and come back tomorrow, with my tail between my legs."

The were a hollow, clapping sound coming from the door. Hermione turned around, and saw Draco stood there, a grin on his face.

"You managed to annoy the she-Weasel, and get kicked out of the house in less than twenty four hours?" He asked, "These nine months or so are going to be entertaining aren't they?"

"Draco," she warned, "shut up, or I'll throw you out for the night, and I have a feeling Ginny or Ron aren't going to take you in for the night, so good luck on the streets."

Draco looked at Harry, then back at Hermione and walked off grumbling. Tigger came out from behind the sofa, meowed at Hermione and jumped up on Harry's knee.

"Even my own cat likes Potter!" Draco said, offended and giving the cat evils.

"…Everything likes Harry." Hermione told him, "it's just no one likes you."

"I ain't putting up with this abuse. I'm going back to bed."

Hermione smiled sweetly at him, and waved him off, as he scowled and made his way back up the stairs.

She sat next to Harry on the sofa and closed her eyes, "Why do I have the feeling I'm going to kill him before we finish this course?"

Harry chuckled, "I think Ginny's going to kill me, and Lavender already told Ron he was sleeping on the sofa, I went there first, because spending the night in the same house as Malfoy didn't seem all that much appealing."

Hermione just laughed, "Yeah, I can imagine." She opened her eyes, "Oh… I forgot I needed to do a CV. Harry what time is it?"

Harry looked at his watch, and frowned. "Eight at night," He said slowly/

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Three in the afternoon then." She clarified. "There might be a library open with internet access, and a printer."

Harry shrugged, "I don't know it depends on the opening and opening times of the libraries around here."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully. "If I leave you and Draco here will you two and the cat still be alive when I get back?"

Harry just shrugged, "The cat will be." He said slowly, "Not guaranteeing Malfoy's life."

Hermione grinned, "That's good enough for me…" She walked out of the living room, and grabbed her coat, before pulling the door open and going out in to the winter. The door shutting with a slam, and Harry hoped to God that Draco didn't come down the stairs.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Heyy! I'm sorry it's so short, and I will be doing another chapter, today, I hope. I'm working on another story at the moment, it's another Dramione, and I'm trying to make it humourous. It will be an M though, I can't really say, "don't read if you're not 16 or whatnot." because i'm only fifteen, and I'm writing it... **

**Anyway. Enjoyy. This is mainly Draco's little chapter - after all, he needs to rant. He's got the boy wonder kipping on his sofa after all!**

Hermione was back in less than two hours, with a few sheets of papers clutched in her hands. She shrugged her coat off, and made her way back in to the living room. Harry was still sat on the sofa with Tigger in his lap, purring contently.

"Hey," he said, his finger flicking behind Tigger's ear. "You get it done?"

She waved the papers and nodded, "Yup, I got to go back to that clothes store tomorrow and hand it in, then I have to work for a week, then they're going to tell me if I have the job or not."

Harry nodded, "I didn't know that you'd applied for a job." He stated, and Hermione smiled,

"Yeah I did it just before we came out to meet you guys. Draco was the only one that knew originally."

Harry shrugged, "Meh. Is he getting a job as well?" Harry knew that when he was allowed back in to his own house, that he'd have to get a job, so that they could afford to live.

Hermione shrugged, "That's up to him, I'm not bothered to be honest. If he wants to job then sure, if he doesn't then I'm going to limit his spending because he isn't wasting any money that I earn on his rubbish."

Harry laughed, he wasn't sure how well Draco would handle being told how much he was allowed to spend, he was used to getting just what he wanted, and nothing less.

Draco was sat in the kitchen, having coming down after hearing the door slam, hoping that it was Harry that had left. Alas, it was Hermione. Draco didn't even greet Harry; he just walked off and went straight in to the kitchen. He'd played around with the kettle at first, but it kept making the water bubble and kept clicking, so he stopped.

He didn't want to break anything and it was probably a good job he didn't. If Hermione thought that she was going to limit his money, then he didn't want to have to waste in by having to replace items. He could hear everything they were saying, and he knew that Hermione didn't know he was in the kitchen.

"_Malfoy's in the kitchen, by the way."_

Dammit, there went that then. Stupid scar head. He always spoiled everything. Draco sighed, and stood up. It was his house; he shouldn't have to hide away in his kitchen. Harry would not reduce him to that. At all. If he wanted to sit in his living room, and talk to his "wife" then he would, and Harry would have to live with it. Draco paused, and sat back down. On second thoughts, he wasn't sure if he could be bothered with Harry at the moment, he'd much prefer to just sit in the kitchen, bored, then put up with that idiot.

Tigger strolled in, slowly, curling her tail around the door as she did, and Draco snarled at her,

"Finally realised what a dork Potter is, did you?" He asked, watching as she sniffed around, moving soft pawed. He didn't really expect an answer, but smiled when she turned her yellow eyes to him, and miowed, before carrying on in her mission. Draco wasn't sure what she was doing, but had to admit she looked cute.

He could still hear Harry and Hermione talking in the living room, and he felt a small pang, somewhere deep within him. He was jealous of Harry, and he knew he was, he just didn't like admitting it outloud, but Harry had everything. He had friends that he could actually talk to - whilst Draco did have Blaise and even Pansy, they weren't the type of people who you'd tell your darkest secrets too. It wasn't because he didn't trust them because he did, but it was because of who their parents were. If either of them let anything slip about what he might say, and it was heard by their parents, then Draco's parents would surely know about it, and then Draco would be the one who was in trouble, and probably getting shouted at or smacked.

He knew that he'd have to learn to put up with Harry for the most part, during this little course, as it was only the first day and Harry was already crashing on their sofa because he and the redhead had argued. He wondered how long it would be until Ron was knocking on their door, requesting to use their sofa for the night. Draco decided, quickly, he was selling their sofa. If they didn't have a sofa, they couldn't sleep on it, and Draco would have a very peaceful life.

Yeah. As if.

He knew Hermione wouldn't let him sell the sofa, and if she did, she'd give Harry or Ron his bed! He knew she would, then again, he also knew that her friends would always be important to her, and any plans he had to keep them out of the house would be ruined by her. Damn her smarts!


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Heyy. Thanks guys, for all the positive reviews you guys have left me. I really do appreciate them, they make me smile (: I'm nearing a hundred now - it'd be the most I've ever gotten, and I don't think it's too bad for just 21 chapters. What do you think guys? Think at least six of you can drop me a review and push my stats up to one hundred reviews? Anyway. I had to throw in the little thing between Draco and Hermione at the beginning... Nothing shall come of it though, it's too soon, but I think I'm going to start moving things up quickly. Anyone have any objections to the next chapter being a week in the future for them? Then I can start the REAL activities...**

The day had passed quickly, and night time had came, and gone as well. It was early morning and the sun was beginning to creep up and filter through the curtains causing Hermione to sling an arm over her eyes, and turn her back to the window, her face pressed against Draco's chest. Had she been fully awake, she'd have moved from this position quickly, instead she snuggled in, feeling comfy, and glad the light had stopped toturing her eyes. Draco woke up as soon as he felt her move, he was only a light sleeper. His first reaction had been to move away from her, but when she snuggled in to his chest, he left her, and closed his eyes again. It wasn't that he liked her or anything, it was just that no one had ever really been this close to him, and he liked the feeling that he didn't repulse her. He even considering pulling his arms around her to keep her there in case he went back to sleep, but didn't. If she woke up, she might be mad, instead he just snuggled down further in to his pillow, and placed a hand in over her hair.

It was only half an hour later that Hermione had awoken properly, and found herself close to Draco, her head on his chest. He had put his arm around her, as he slept, and his chin was on top of his head. She felt like a teddy bear, and smiled. Draco - with a teddy bear wasn't a thought she could have early morning and not find it hilarious. Tigger was at the foot of the bed, obviously ditching out on Harry during the night, although Hermione didn't blame the cat, it was a well known fact that Harry snored. Loudly.

Pushing herself away from Draco, Hermione got out of bed, closed the gap in curtain, to prevent Draco waking up, she thought it would be easier if he stayed asleep, so she didn't have to deal with Harry and him arguing, plus she wanted a bath, and it'd probably be better to get one whilst both males were fast asleep. She walked in to the bathroom, Tigger following her, dodging and dashing between her feet, and running around her. They really did have a hyperactive cat, but Tigger was cute, so she could pull of the bouncing instead of walking.

Draco woke up, just after Hermione left the room and sighed, rubbing his hands over his face. It was too early to be awake, and enjoy the fact but there wasn't much he could do. He looked at the clock, and saw it was half six, in the morning. He flung himself backwards, and lay back on his pillow. Way to early to get up. He heard the taps go on in the bathroom, and knew it would be Hermione - he also remembered she had work this morning. With another sigh, he got out of bed - he was already restless - and walked down the stairs, in to the living room and threw himself down on the sofa...On to a rather large lump, which then proceeded to make a lot of unpleasent sounds and words...

"Ahh!" Draco shouted, and jumped up, "Potter! Are you still here?!"

Harry's head popped up from under a blanket, looking extrememly annoyed, and a hand followed, reaching for his glasses, and propping them up on his nose. "Evidently I am still here. Thanks for the wake up call, by the way." Draco heard the sarcastic undertone, but chose to ignore it.

"Hey, I'll always be around to wake you up." He said cheerfully, "Though next time, a hammer, your head, a angry Hermione and a whole lot of ice will be involved." Draco didn't mention that what he really meant was that he'd sit on Harry's head, Hermione would get angry and hit Draco's head with a hammer, and Draco would be the one using the ice. Nah, it was much more fun for Harry to think that Draco meant he was gunna wake him up with a hit to the head with a hammer.

Harry shook his head, "Yeah yeah, keep chatting." He said, "Hermione awake?"

Draco nodded, "She's in the bath - she's got work...which means that you need to leave soon, because I don't feel like spending the day alone with you."

"Yeah, feelings mutual, don't worry about it." Harry retorted, shaking his head. Draco was so immature. Sure, Harry didn't like him, but he'd be polite, after all, Hermione had to live wih him for God knows how long. He wondered if Divorce was allowed... he'd have to ask about that.

Hermione walked down the stairs, dressed smartly but casually. "You two aren't harrassing each other again are you?" She asked, not waiting for an answer, but walking in to the kitchen, fully intending to get a cup off coffee before she left for "work".

"He started it!" Draco shouted, following her. "When's he leaving, anyway?"

Hermione turned to look at him, her face set hard. "Whenever he wants to leave." She answered, turning back to the kettle, it clicked when it was boiled, and Draco stared at it.

"Is it supposed to do that?" He asked, "Because it was doing it yesterday, and I thought I'd broke it..." He said slowly, his eyes not leaving it even as Hermione lifted it up and poured the steaming water in to her cup.

"Yup. It means the water's boiled." She said simply, stiring her drink, then walking back in to the living room.

Harry was folding the blankets up, and smiled at Hermione, "I'm gunna go see if Ginny's awake, and apologize. See if I can get back in my house."

"Finally!" Draco cried, "I'm locking the bloody door when you've gone," he warned, "don't think you're getting back in here whilst Hermione is at work."

Hermione glared at him, and turned to Harry, "I'm sure she'd let you back in, you know Ginny... she gets angry, but then she chills and forgets about it."

Harry just nodded, "I'll walk out with you." He said, sitting down next to the folded blanket.

Hermione smiled, and placed her cup down on the table. "I'm gunna set off in about half an hour, I'd rather be early than late - it makes a better impression."

Harry nodded again, "Yeah it does." He sighed, "Man - you're the only one who's going to pass this course." He stated with a smile.

Draco gave a huff, and turned around, walking back in to the kitchen. Harry-Bloody-Potter. The Boy who would NOT die. Or, as Draco prefered to refer to him in own mind: "Stupid bloody useless git who can never do anything right, including die." But Draco personally felt that it was too long to just say in casual conversation, so he kept the name to himself. He did considering just shortening it down to "stupid bloody useless git." and he did have to admit that it described Harry to a tee. Draco didn't understand how three people so different could become the best of friends. He supposed in some aspects, they were the same - they were loyal as anything, and they were all Gryffindors, but he didn't see how Weasley - with his humour - Potter - with his incompetence, and hero complex - and Hermione - with the brains, and even if Draco didn't want to admit it, the looks. He would much rather admit that Hermione was the better looker out of Harry and Ron, although he'd never actually want to admit it out loud.

Hermione watched Draco walk out, and rolled her eyes, so over dramatic. A multi-brown fluff ball hopped in to view, bounding after Draco, her little tail bopping along with his, her ears perked upwards, and her head slightly tilted to the left.

"Gotta say, 'mione." Harry started, his eyes too on the cat, "That's one impressive cat you've got. Hyper, but impressive."

Hermione nodded, "I know." She said, "I got a feeling her and Draco are gunna end up liking each other."

"...It's a cat." Harry stated, frowning, "Cats are intelligent...why would it ever like Draco?"

"Dunno," she shrugged, "he isn't that bad--" she smiled, remembering this morning - he didn't seem too bothered that a lowly Muggleborn was against him. "I just think Tigger will annoy him to the point where he actually likes giving her attention - she's one of those cats who you find impossible to hate, not matter what you do."

Harry nodded, and stood up. "I'm gunna get dressed, then I think it's time for us to leave," he said, standing up slowly and stretching out his muscles before walking out of the room, leaving Hermione alone.

**A/N 2: Is it just me, or is Tigger really growing on people? I love her :) Although, her character is based on my cat, Tiggs (Technically, she's called Tigger...) and she's currently curled up next to me...Hope you enjoyed the story!!**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Oh. My Gawd. I love you guys, really I do. Over one hundred reviews! Thanks to everyone that did review, and even all you silent readers! My plot is beginning to progress, but I have a feeling that this is either going to be really long, or it's going to get really confusing and you're all going to get bored of it, and I'm sorry if that happens. **

**So... Review? Let me know what you like about it, what you don't, and what you want to see happen soon! 3 **

It had been a week, and not much had really happened. Hermione was still on the trial at the clothes shop, but she'd been told that she'd done really well and a lot of the customers seemed to like her; and much to Draco's relief, Harry had left his couch well alone and allowed him to live in peace.

Hermione didn't understand why Harry and Draco actually had a problem with each other, due to the fact that neither really knew each other that well. She suspected that it was just a stereotypical house hatred thing, but she wasn't sure – she was going to try and get Harry, Ron and Draco to spend as much time together as they could and see if they could call a truce or reduce their differences even just a little bit. Hey, a girl could dream.

At the moment, Draco was sprawled out on his sofa, the blasted cat curled up on his chest, and the remote in his hand. Hermione was at work, and it was the only time he really had free reign over the house without here there to tell him what to do. Of course, he had nothing to do during the day anyway, due to the fact that he didn't have a job yet – but he was working on that…kind of.

He pushed the red button on the remote, and watched as the screen turned black, allowing the room to fall in to a calm silence. He wondered what his friends were up to, Blaise mainly, he wondered if he was at least having fun, or if he felt as lonely as Draco did. It wouldn't be so ad if he had his friends with him, like Hermione had hers, but he didn't. He was alone with five people who didn't even like him. And it was dragging. He'd been here for six days, and they'd completeled two tasks, still. They'd brought a pet, and went on a "outing" - the letter claimed that it could just be a trip to the mall, and that's exactly what they did. Hermione had said to him, once or twice that they should try and complete the tasks as quick as they could, if they could, and then use the time to just enjoy America.

Draco did agree with her, of course he'd never admit this out loud - he didn't like the fact that she was smarter than him, so he wouldn't willingly admit that she'd had a good idea. He had his eyes closed, and was absently stroking Tigger's ear, whilst Tigger tried to catch his finger in her mouth...yeah, right cat, keep wishing. Draco prefered his digits on the ends of his hands, not in your mouth. The lock to the front door forced his eyes to open, and his finger to stop - he heard it click, signaling that someone had opened his door, and the only person who should have had a key was Hermione, but she shoud have been working.

It was Hermione, but she looked ill. Draco stood, dropping the cat off his lap, "Granger?" He asked, "You look like hell."

Hermione shot him a sarcastic look, "Gee, thanks Malfoy." She rolled her eyes, "I got sent home...but I got the job."

Draco smiled, he knew that she'd get it, but he wondered why they sent her home. "How come you're here now if you got the job?"

Hermione sighed, "Sick." She said.

Draco frowned, it as well known that he didn't really like Hermione, but even he was beginning to get concerned. "Again?" He asked, and sighed when she nodded. Hermione had been throwing up for the past three days, and so had Ginny according to Hermione. Ginny had said she felt sick, after a man walked past her and muttered something, Draco didn't believe her, but Hermione had been with Ginny at the same time - why had they both become ill after that? He didn't understand, and he knew he wouldn't be able to, but he could at least try and make sure Hermione was okay.

They'd called a truce of sorts, they were civil to each other, and Hermione had yet to make him sleep on the sofa, and they'd woken up a few times, tangled together - Hermione had to admit, it was sweet, the amount of times she'd woken up and found her head on his chest and his arms around her, and how they'd tighten when she'd try to get up so she could go work. They still argued about a lot of things, but after spending nearly a week together none stop, they were running out of things to argue about. There were the usual things, like who got the first bath, and who's turn it was too cook, but that was the most of their arguements recently.

"Sit down." Draco said, firmly, his hands pushing Hermione down on the sofa, and he walked in to the kitchen, pulling a glass off the draining board, and filled it with water; he walked back to her, and handed her the glass, "this doesn't mean I'm your friend, you know." He huffed, sitting next to her.

Hermione smiled at him, and took the glass taking a tentive sip before putting it down on the table, "oh, don't worry - I know it doesn't make us friends, it just shows we aren't enemies anymore."

Draco rolled his eyes, oh, they were so enemies...just polite enemies, although Hermione seemed to think that you couldn't be enemies with the person you were living with, and whilst he agreed with her, he still didn't think she'd want to be his friend. As a Pure blood, he'd always been taught that muggle borns were bad, and nasty, and weren't worth anything, yet Hermione bested him in nearly every subject, she was smarter than him and she was more mature. He wouldn't have thought to do a truce, he'd rather have just used his ignorance and insults to make it through living with his enemies.

He was glad though, that she chose to give him another chance, he didn't think he could take living with her, and having no friends. It would get boring, and he was glad she was there if he needed to talk; they'd had a few serious talks, and he'd told her things about her family - nothing she could get his family in trouble for, but things like how they treated him, and how they wanted him to follow their views when he didn't want to. He wanted to be able to make his own decisions.

---------------------------

It was nearly five am, and Draco was stood in the bathroom, over the toilet as Hermione crouched over it, her head as close to the bowl as she could get it, with Draco's hand rubbing her back, and her other holding her hair up. He'd taken sympathy for her, after the first ten minutes. "Maybe it's something you ate?" He suggested, and Hermione managed to weakly shake her head. She'd ate the same as him, she curled her body from the position it was in, and stood up, flushing the chain and going over to the sink to brush her teeth and wash her face. Draco watched her with a small frown on his face. He never thought he'd be this...close to Hermione. He noted that her eyes were red, and it looked like she'd been crying.

"I hate being sick," she muttered, and Draco nodded, he couldn't really blame her, it was a horrible feeling. He wondered if thats why she'd been crying, her voice was all hoarse, and her hair messy from being asleep.

"C'mon," Draco said softly, "let's go back to bed, you don't have work in the morning, not until monday." The clothes shop had called her, and when Draco had answered the phone and said, well shouted, that Hermione was currently throwing up and couldn't quite get to the phone, they'd said for her to stay off until monday, or earlier if she felt better.

Hermione nodded, patting her face dry, and rinsing her mouth out with mouth wash again, before following Draco out of the bathroom and back in to the bedroom.

When she finally woke up, she found the bed empty, and made on Draco's side. She lay there for a few minutes, making sure she didn't need to dash to the bathroom, and when she'd establised that she didn't, she managed to slowly make her way out of bed and downstairs. Draco was sat on the sofa, and looked up when he saw her.

"You've got a letter on the table," he said, pointing to a piece of rolled up parchment, "came via owl, might be important."

Hermione glared at it, and picked it up. Oh, God. What if something had happened at Hogwarts?

_Miss Granger. _

_I'm sure you've noticed that your health isn't a hundred percent perfect at the moment, but we didn't think it would decline so fast. I tell you this in confidence, and only may you share it with Mr Malfoy if you wish. A spell was cast on you, and both your female friends. Your spell, and possibly Miss Weasley's didn't go quite as planned. I can't disclose what this spell was, as that's for you to find out for yourself, although you must keep quite, as it's not meant to be known as a spell, I'm sure you'll grow to understand soon. _

_As I was saying, if you get worse, or feel too weak, then you have your permission to send an owl out - my owl will stay with you, and knows where to deliver any messages you may send too, just inform the letter of what's happening and you'll get attention as soon as we can get someone to you. Hopefully, the spell was only a minor glitch, and you should be feeling better by the time this letter gets to you then the spell can begin to work._

_I wish you all the best for this course, as you might need it. Congratulations on your new job, by the way._

_M. Mcgonagall._

_Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Thank you so much! I'm proper happy at the amount of reviews I have, so I wrote this out tonight. I hope it's good, I've realised, with regret that my chapters hardly contain anything useful or interesting in them, but I have a school break coming up so I'm going to try and get as much out as I can, and I'm going to start putting two chapters together to make them longer for you, and so you get more information. Those who've been with this story from the beginning know that I go through stages of updating frequently then I disappear for a few months...**

The letter had confused Hermione. She didn't quite know what to make of it, after all, there had been no warning of this. She assumed that it was supposed to do something to her, but she couldn't understand what would have caused a spell to go wrong. The only thing she could think of off the top of her head was that the person casting hadn't used the correct wand movements. She was currently curled up on the sofa, the cat at the side of her, seriously Tigger seemed to always be there, and usually asleep or trying to trip you over, it was a very...in your face type of cat. Hermione was beginning to love her though, she was actually gorgeous for a cat. Draco had, against his own will, gone to Harry's to see how Ginny was doing. Hermione had sent him because the letter implied that Ginny could have been affected in a similar way.

Draco had wondered in a few minutes later, scowling. "She's fine." He said, before moving Hermione's feet, and sitting down next to her, "spent the night throwing up, Potter ended up on the sofa again, oh and Weasley has a black eye."

Hermione blinked, "Why does Ron have a black eye?" She asked, not quite believing that his sister would do that to him just because she was feeling sick.

"Brown attacked him," Draco told her, and she shrugged, Ginny - she couldn't believe, but Lavender...yeah, she could believe that. "Apparently he said something, and she just went mad, and hit him, then cried for about an hour, before apologizing. Weasley says he holds it down to PMS... whatever that is."

Hermione rolled her eyes, trust Ron to think it was that. It seemed that it was all lads ever held a womans bad mood to, and it was kind of annoying after a while. Harry and Ron used to always say it whenever she was in a particularly bad mood, and each and every time, they'd get a slap for it. "Move," she said, "go sit over there," she pointed to the chair.

"No! Why?" Draco looked at her, with a frown, "just because you're ill does not mean you get your own way!"

"I wanna lay down!" Hermione said, throwing her feet over him.

"I believe there is a bed upstairs...? Use it!"

Hermione glared at him, "Fine! You can sleep on the sofa tonight, considering you're attached too it." Draco was lucky he wasn't at Hogwarts or Hermione would have used magic to stick him too it. She didn't give him time to answer, but heard his groan as she walked up the stairs. He really didn't want to have to sleep on the sofa, and he hoped Hermione was just playing when she said that, although she seemed a bit touchy today... in fact, all the girls did. Ron had been hit, Harry had been pushed to the sofa as well, last night, and now he had. Maybe it had something to do with the spell that was mentioned in the letter? He didn't know but he kind of hoped that they'd find out soon so that he could go back to bed again. He actually missed being near Hermione's warm body - it wasn't exactly warm right now, sure it was a lot warmer than in Scotland, but it was still cold.

Hermione however, wasn't joking - not at the moment anyway. She was annoyed, but she wasn't sure why. She felt really restless, and tired, although it was probably because she didn't sleep much last night inbetween crying and being sick, so she'd blame that for now, until another good reason presented it's self. Either that, or she'd blame Draco for just being Draco - either worked for her if she was honest.

Draco looked at the empty space on the sofa, and sighed. All he had was the tv and the cat. What great company they were. The people in the tv were so rude, whenever he asked them a question they either blanked him like he didn't exist, or they'd talk about a completely different topic, just to ridicule him! He seriously wondered if they'd been dragged up by wolves. Who knew? Maybe they just liked to annoy him until he was forced to turn them off, and it was weird how if he watched the same person again, they always said exactly the same thing, or did the same thing and acted surprised when something happened, as if they didn't know what was about to occur.

The Lion King, for instance. Everytime Draco had watched that, he didn't get why Simba cried when Muffasa died, after the sixteenth time of watching it - surely Simba must have known what was going to happen after so many times! Sure, it would still hurt, but did he have to play dumb, and keep poking his dad, thinking he was asleep? Talk about acting up for the cameras. Although, Draco had to admit that Lion King was sad, although he wouldn't admit that he'd cried the first time he'd watched it. Luckily Hermione was at work, and hadn't been there to witness it, and therefore had nothing over him to blackmail him with. Not that she had proof of the incident anyway.

He'd watched a lot of Disney films, and he had to admit they were good. So emotional, again though, he would never admit to thinking that outloud, even he knew that if he said that, he'd get laughed off the sofa and probably out of the country - unless he said it to a little girl, who might happen to be dressed as a disney character - then they might be inclined to agree with him. He didn't know though, why should he? He wasn't used to all this muggle stuff, and even though Hermione was trying to teach him how to use the basic appliances for when she was out at work, and he wanted too cook, he still couldn't get the hang of much else. He knew most of the electrical appliances functions and what they were supposed to do, he knew how to turn some of them off, but other than that, he didn't know anything else. He wondered how Muggles went around with no magic, it would drive him crazy not to have magic in his life. It made everything so much easier.

-------

Hermione woke up, and it was dark outside. She wasn't sure how long she'd slept or what time it was, but she could tell the bed was empty bar from herself. It either meant that Draco had listened to her, and stayed out of the bedroom, or it wasn't that late and he hadn't tried to come to bed yet. Hermione knew that when, or if, he came up she'd let him in the bed, she wasn't that mean and he hadn't actually done anything to warrent sleeping on a small sofa. She looked at the time, and saw it was half nine at night, and to be honest, Draco was usually in bed by now, only because he'd run out of things to do. She pushed her legs off the side of the bed, and stood, her body sore from the position she'd slept in. She wanted to see if Draco was coming to bed or not, if he wasn't, she'd bring him some extra blankets down - she'd feel bad other wise.

She walked down the stairs, and in to the living room and caught sight of Draco sat up on the sofa, his hands clasped with his eyes shut.

"Malfoy?" She asked softly, then smiled when he opened one eye. "Come up to bed if you want." She said, with a small sigh.

Draco opened both eyes, "you sure?" He asked. He wanted to make sure it wasn't some type of trap, girls could be cunning - he knew that. He also knew they'd do anything to get their own way, and it scared him that he was living with one of the brightest witches of the age. God only knew what she had planned, and how much pain she was going to inflict to his person. Oh, God help him, please!

"Yeah, you'll just be in pain tomorrow if you sleep on the sofa, it's too small for you to really lay down on." She smiled, and walked out of the room, heading back up the stairs. The offer was there now, so it was up to him if he took it. She felt less guilty, because after all, it was his choice if he slept on the sofa, she hadn't told him too, therefore he couldn't blame her in the morning when he had a stiff neck and a killer back.

Draco chose to go up to bed, after all, Hermione had made a good point - the sofa didn't make a good substitute bed. It would only make his muscles sore in the morning, and he could really do without pain, especially if Hermione was ill too. It wouldn't serve good having them both ill, there were still things that needed to be done. He climbed the stairs slowly, before entering the room to find Hermione already in bed, curled up on her side, asleep. He smiled - in her sleep was the only time she looked her age. She always seemed to look older, it suited her though, it didn't make her look old, she just looked wise beyond her years. He climbed in to bed next to her, and let his body drift off to an unknown land.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Woo-hoo! Come on guys this is good for me! I've updated nearly everyday for the last three days! I tried to make this chapter slightly longer, but I'm not sure if I succeeded, I don't think I did really. Anyway, you've all made really good guesses, if I'm honest with you! I ain't saying if you're correct, you'll all find out soon enough ;)**

Draco held a small blue box in his hand, and had one hand positioned on his hip, if he wasn't in the middle of shouting at her, she would find this situation _extremely _hilarious. However she didn't have time to think of anything but the fact that Draco was currently telling her off, and saying he was disapointed in her.

"And you, _you, _have the authority to tell me I'm not to waste money?" He asked, glaring at her then thrusting the box at her, "and what did you need these for then? You've not even opened them!" Hermione snatched the box off him and blushed slightly. He'd found her...monthly supplies, well, they weren't really hidden, but still.

"'I've not used them because I've not nee--" She stopped, "I do not have to explain myself to you, these are needed, maybe not a this exact moment, but they'll be needed at some point, and it's an item that it's better to already have!"

Draco seemed to pale, "...they're tampons, aren't they?" He asked, his hand moving to his pants, and rubbing down on them, as if he was trying to clean them. Seriously, guys were so immature about this sort of stuff. It was kind of annoying.

"Yeah, they are." Hermione said, walking away from him, and pushing them back in her drawer. She tried to work out when she'd need them, but couldn't. If she was right, then she was late - not that it was uncommon, she was hardly regular anyway, so there was nothing much to worry about. There was a knock on the door, and Draco left the room quickly, scared that Hermione will fill him in on more information about things he really didn't want to know about. He pulled it open, and frowned. No one was there, it annoyed Draco when people did that. Knocked and ran, what if he was doing something important, and had to stop to answer the door to a faux knock?

He looked down, and saw it though, a letter, and a bottle of some blue mixture. He quirked an eyebrow and picked it up. It was addressed to Hermione,

"Oi! Granger!" He shouted, shutting the front door with his foot. Hermione appeared on top of the stairs, and looked at him, raising her eyebrow. "Got something for you." Draco told her, and walked in to the living room, giving Hermione no choice but to follow him if she wanted to find out what he had. She walked down the stairs quickly, following him in to the living room, she spotted the bottle on the table, along with the letter and picked it up.

_Mrs Malfoy._

_It's I, Unknowny... but I come bearing...well, something. Not gunna call it a gift, because you wouldn't understand __**why**__ it was a gift...Anyway. Drink up, me hearties! It's a potion by the way, but it shall do you no harm, it's a vital part of this course. _

_I must be off, I've got two more to drop off. Give my wishes to your husband._

_Unknownyy x_

Hermione shook her head, just who was their unknown wizard or witch? They seemed nice enough, whoever they were, but slightly weird.

"What does it say?" Draco asked, looking at her as she picked up the bottle. Was she seriously gunna drink that stuff?

Hermione shrugged, "just told me to drink this, but it sounds like Ginny and Lavender have too as well..." She pulled the lid off, and drank the contents quickly, before scowling, "Oh that was nasty." She said, sitting down on the sofa next to him.

"Wonder what it does?" Draco said slowly, looking at the bottle.

"No idea, but it's also apparently vital for the course, so I'm guessing it will _do _something."

Draco just shrugged, as long as he wansn't being made to drink weird blue stuff out of a bottle, then he didn't mind much. He'd rather it be Hermione that had to do that sort of stuff, at the moment he liked the little jig he had going on. He didn't have to work, he didn't have to take nasty tasting potions, and he just got to lounge around all day with a slightly hyper cat, but hey it was fun. Although he knew that soon enough, he'd have to go looking for a job, it wasn't fair to make Hermione do everything, he had to do it as well if they wanted to pass, and if he was honest he didn't want to make Hermione lose points because of his laziness. That really wouldn't be fair on her, she'd done nothing to him except be nice, and he might not be best friends with her, but he was glad that she'd been making this easier for him.

--------

"Just what are you insinuating, Potter?" Ginny growled, her eyes flashing dangerously as Harry backed himself in to a corner, looking very much like he knew he was gunna be hurt for this.

"No-nothing, Ginny, honestly, I wasn't insinuating anything!"

"It sounded like it," Ginny growled, "Do you really love the sofa?"

"...No." Harry said slowly, standing up, "Ginny, seriously you need to calm down." It was true, she'd been taking a lot of stuff out on him for the last week, and while he'd take it, and he'd never be nasty to her on purpose, it got a bit frustrating.

"I know," she sighed, softly, "Harry, I'm sorry, I don't know. I know I have no excuses, and I'm sorry about making you sleep on the sofa." She frowned when she heard the door knock - damn, that person had just ruined her speech, she had one planned and everything to tell Harry how sorry she really was. She didn't mean to be nasty to him, it just happened and she had no real reason; sure she was stressed out at being away from Hogwarts, and she was slightly scared as to what this course might require, but that didn't mean she had to constantly take everything out on Harry. She shook her head again, and walked over to answer the door, letting Harry slowly come out of his corner.

"Who's there?" He asked, coming up behind her.

"No one," she replied slowly, "just a note and a bottle." She walked past Harry and back in to the living room, reading the note as she went.

_Mrs Potter._

_Unknowny here. Sorry about not being able to give you the potion personally, but your headmistress requested I remain unknown to you at the moment. Anyway, drink the potion, it's extremely vital to your course._

_Off I go, I need to give Mrs Weasley her potion yet. Say hey to Mr Potter for me. _

_Unknownyy x_

Ginny frowned, but shrugged and drank the potion, ignoring Harry's confused look. Unlike Hermione's potion, Ginny's was yellow, and thicker, but didn't taste as bad.

"What was that?" Harry asked, when Ginny placed the bottle down.

"Dunno." Ginny told him, "it's for the course though, and our unknown wizard or whoever."

Harry just shrugged, and sat back on the sofa, he wondered if it was to help Ginny get better, after all, she's spent the last two days being sick, although she didn't seem to be as bad today, he still wasn't sure if she was in perfect health. Ginny sat next to him, her stomach feeling like it had turned in to a washing machine, she gathered that it would just be a side effect of the potion though, after all, she didn't know what it was.

----------

"Bloody bugger off!" Ron shouted, shutting the bathroom door. He'd had enough of that woman, he really had. She seriously was a huband beater.

"Just what do you think you're doing in there?" Lavender demanded, fist hitting the wooden door.

"Getting away from you!" Ron called back, "you're psycho, I swear! You bloody abuse me!"

Lavender laughed, "Don't be so hormonal." She said, "I do not abuse you! You ask for it.."

"I only said that you couldn't have _my _closet space as well as your own." Ron said, opening the door a little.

"Yeah, then you insinuated I had way too many clothes, and that I was addicted to shopping."

"You are!" Ron sighed, fed up, "I'm going downstairs." He walked past her, and headed down stairs, stopping on the second to last step when he heard a knock. He rolled his eyes, maybe Harry had heard them arguing again or something, and had come to see what was going on. here was no one there though. He spotted the potions bottle, and the letter, and frowned but picked it up anyway.

"Lavender. It's got your name on it." He said, their little tiff forgotten. It wasn't unusual, they were ex's after all, they didn't think it was a very good idea for them to be partnered in this way, but they couldn't go against the sorting hat. The bottle held a pink liquid, which seemed to shimmer, but Ron shrugged as Lavender took the note off him, and read it.

_Mrs Weasley._

_Stop beating your husband up! Drink the potion, it's vital for you course. It won't cause you any harm, in fact I'm more concerned about your husband...._

_Unknownyy x_

Lavender glared at the letter, but took the bottle that Ron offered her, and drank the contents, grimacing slightly as she swollowed it. That really wasn't that nice, if she was honest with you. She gave Ron the note, so he could read it, and looked at the clock, before sighing. She supposed she'd better cook, it was starting to get late.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: Sorry about ending the chapter where I did, but I couldn't help it! Forgive me! Thanks for all the reviews, I love them. They make me wayyy happy, to know that a lot of you are liking this story. I'm glad, because at first, I was scared that people would think my attempt at humour, and stuff was lame - whilst I admit it is, I'm happy that you guys don't seem to mind my lame jokes. **

It had been two days since the girls had drank the potions, and none of them were sure what exactly they were meant to do. Hermione and Ginny hadn't been sick since, so Hermione was back in work, but there had been no side effects or anything. Hermione wondered if it was some sort of protection ward at first, but after she'd spoke with the other two girls and found out that their potions had each been a different colour, she'd ruled that idea out. There was also the fact that none of the guys had been forced to drink them, so it must be something that only affected the girls.

Draco was alone. Well, no, he had Tigger - but seriously, that cat _did not _like him. Whenever he tried to stroke her, she'd dig her claws in to his hands and her teeth would follow soon. Either Draco's hand tasted nice, or that cat had serious social issues... Draco rather liked to believe that his hand tasted nice, after all the cat didn't bite anyone else. Lay across the couch - something he hardly ever got away with when Hermione was in, he was watching a channel, and trying to have a decent conversation with the man who was currently on screen.

"It's hard," he sighed, "you know, living with Granger. I know nothing about her...."

The man on the screen lifted one hand, and said in a clear voice, "as the day progresses, the winds will pick up, and there's a chance of heavy rainfall."

Draco rolled his eyes, "Are you using euphemisms to warn me that we're going to have an argument, 'cause if you are, buddy, I can assure you...that's been and gone. We've had tons."

"Tomorrow however, the sun should be out. The maximum temperature won't go about fifteen degrees, and there will be slight winds."

"So tomorrow will be a good day for us? It _is _Saturday... So it would be better to have a...uhm, "sunny" day."

"The weather forecast doesn't show any threats of storms at the moment, but keep checking back - if the wind picks up too much, then there could be hazard warnings."

Draco snapped, finally, "_stop talking about the bloody weather! I've ignored it for as long as I can! I'm trying to have a __**conversation **__with you, and every day you do the same thing! Just go on and on about the weather! __**Well I'm sick of it!**__ This is going no where, sometimes I wonder why I keep our daily meetings, tomorrow you can just talk to a blank screen!"_ He hit the red button the remote, and scowled at the man before the screen turned black, and the man disappeared. What a rude man. Did his mother never teach him anything? Draco Malfoy did not like being flat out ignored.

Groaning, Draco stood up off the sofa, and walked in to the kitchen, wanting to stretch his legs a little, they were beginning to go dead on him. He looked at the clock on the oven; he had two hours to kill before Hermione came home, and he had no idea what to do for those two hours. He could always watch a Disney film... but he wasn't sure if he could be bothered with that. Plus there weren't any that sounded interesting anymore – he'd watched all the good ones.

Sighing, he walked back out of the kitchen, and lay down on the sofa again. Even though it was fun, at first, when Hermione wasn't here, he began to hate it after a while. It got so boring, at least when she was here he had someone to talk to, and they could have a decent conversation, even if it did end with him getting ignored because he'd dissed her friends. But the point was she was still here, and it was entertaining for him to annoy her, because he knew that no matter how stressed out she got, she'd forgive him, and he really wasn't that bad to her. He'd not called her anything; he'd not harmed her. It was little petty comments that he knew would annoy her, or he'd argue about Wand Lore or something of the type with her just to get her riled up.

He began to realise just how much he actually liked Hermione's company, it was good to be able to argue with someone who wasn't Crabbe or Goyle. Now those two really couldn't hold a decent conversation unless food was involved. Hermione though, her knowledge ranged from everything and anything. He could say anything, and she'd have a response for it. Even about topics she _shouldn't _know about. It just proved that he wasn't the only one who snuck in to the Restricted Area at Hogwarts. Not that it really surprised him much - he doubted that she snuck in, she probably got permission off a teacher, he couldn't see her doing anything to break the school rules, or worse _the library _rules.

It really did just prove how little he knew about Hermione Granger. If he'd known everything they'd done, her, Ron and Harry then they'd be surprised - it was certain.

Thankfully, the hours went fast -- only because Draco had unwillingly fell asleep whilst trying to count down the time until she'd unlock the front door, unbore him and feed him, then go to bed and be quiet for the rest of the night so Draco could sleep. He woke up, with the cat sat over his chest again, when Hermione opened the door and shook her coat off. It must have been raining outside because her hair was all wet, and plastered to her face.

"Wet much?" He asked, sitting up and pushing the cat off.

"Nah," Hermione said sarcastically, "it was dry rain, so it's all good."

Draco rolled his eyes, well then, there was no need for her to be sarcastic with him! She was turning in to those people off the tv, the ones who said something to mock him or just ignored him. He was getting used to it now though, he knew it would forever annoy him, but it wasn't like their opinion really mattered that much to him anyway. He merely talked to them because there was no one else to talk to, unless he wanted to go sit in with Hermione's friends, which if he was honest with you - he really didn't want to do, and he knew that they probably didn't want him to do that either. It was well known that they weren't good friends, and it would just be awkward for him to go there, and try to have a conversation with them.

Hermione disappeared in to the kitchen, and Draco frowned. Didn't she want to at least dry off first? It must be uncomfortable, sitting in wet clothes. It was probably a good job it wasn't acid rain - from what he'd heard, that stuff would probably be able to disolve her clothes! Now even though that would have been kind of funny, he knew it was mortify Hermione, therefore he didn't say this outloud, plus she'd probably hit him when she left the kitchen if she knew that he was thinking that.

When she did return from the kitchen, she was holding two cups, and wearing a confused smile on her face as she looked at him. He could tell there was something wrong. He took a cup from her, and waited for her to sit down before turning to her.

"What's up?" He asked, frowning. She was never usually this quiet.

"You remember the letter I got? And the potion I was told to drink?" Hermione asked slowly, waiting for Draco to nod to show that he remembered, although she doubted he'd forgotten already, "Well, I know what it did to me, and more than likely the other girls as well..."


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: This chapter didn't really come out as I wanted it too, and it took me a little while to write, but I think it's better at my first attempt of this chaper, which was really bad. Anyway, thank you for all the reviews. You wouldn't believe how much I was smiling throughout Science when I saw them all (: Enjoy!!**

Draco sat, waiting expectantly for her to tell him what she knew, but he could tell by the look on her face that she didn't really want to tell him. It couldn't be that bad could it? Maybe she was just scared? It probably gave the girls some weird mutation, just for a laugh and Hermione was embarrassed at the fact that she had to tell him that. He didn't know, but he wanted to.

"Well?" He prompted, leaning in to the arm of the sofa, "what did it do?"

Hermione sighed, "I don't know if it was the potion, or if something weird's going on in my body, I'm hoping that it's just the potion though." Hermione began slowly, and once more, Draco could tell she was trying to stall, well he wasn't having that. She couldn't just come in here and tell him that she knew something, then not tell him what it was that she knew.

"C'mon, Granger. Don't leave me in suspence." He said, shaking his head, "it's rude you know?"

Hermione frowned, "Well, this isn't exactly easy, now." She told him, not unkindly. "And it effects you just as much as it effects me."

"Even more reason to just come out and tell me what the problem is." Draco said, smugly. He wanted to know, it was annoying him now. It was bad enough she knew more academically than he did, he wasn't going to accept her knowing more about this as well.

"Well," Hermione said softly, "I think the potion was supposed to make a phantom life, you know? For part of our course, an extra test within it's self." It was the best way she could think to explain something like this, she knew that if she just came out and said it, she might have a dead "husband" on her hands.

Draco blinked, "I don't get it." He said, "a phantom life? You mean like, a person, who isn't really there?"

"I certainly hope they aren't _really _here." Hermione said, her eyes wide.

"Oh just explain yourself properly! You're confusing me still!"

"For God's sake, Malfoy!" Hermione threw her hands up, "I'm pregnant; up the duff; with child; got a bun in the oven, and whatever else you can think of -- and it's all that potions fault!"

Draco looked stunned for a moment, "...No it's not." He said, grinning.

"It's not what?" Hermione asked, her eyebrows furrowed. Did he think she was messing around, because she most certainly wasn't!

"It's not the potions fault," he stated, and then carried on when he saw Hermione open her mouth to say something, "it's me. Malfoy's have super seed... so super, it can impregnate you without being near you!"

"Yeah, there's more chance of this being Viktor's baby, than your 'seed' magically impregnating me." Hermione scoffed.

Draco looked blanched, "You and Krum _had se---" _

"_**NO!" **_Hermione's shriek cut him off, and she pulled a face, "Never." She added, "Ever. I do have more taste than _that."_

Draco just shrugged, and sat down again. "So... you've got a baby?"

Hermione shook her head, "I'm guessing _we've _got a baby."

Draco didn't say anything. Never did he think he and Hermione would have a baby, even if it wasn't a real baby. Actually, he wasn't feeling too well if he was gunna be honest.

"Malfoy?" Hermione called softly, "You don't look so good...Sit down."

Draco did as she said, and sat down, closing his eyes, "Please, tell me you're joking?"

"I wish I was. But, on the bright side, it also means that Ginny and Lavender might be in a very similar predicement."

Draco groaned, "Oh God no!" He cried, "Not three hormonal, needy, weird-craving, women...I think I'm gunna have to call a truce with Potter and Weasley if we're too survive this..."

"Don't be so melodramatic!" Hermione said, huffing, "we're not that bad."

Draco said nothing, that way he couldn't get in to trouble but he seriously had to say he disagreed with that. They were that bad, and he knew it, and he knew that deep down - she knew it as well. He leaned his head back, man he did not feel good. He was surprised he wasn't on the floor, out cold after hearing that. After all, it wasn't something he heard everyday. Urgh, damn that Headmistress. She must have known what the course enabled, so why would she partner them up? It was bound to go wrong with himself and Hermione raising a child.

Hermione was thinking a very similar thing. Would Draco be able to cope looking after a child? It did mean that one of them wouldn't be able to work, though, unless they got a nanny - but Hermione just saw that as a waste of time, if she was honest. She wondered if Ginny and Lavender were pregnant as well, and if they'd figured it out yet, or told their husbands.

----

Ginny stood over the body of Harry, her hands on her hips, and an annoyed expression on her face. Now was not the time for him to be messing around, and laying down. She refused to accept the fact that he'd fainted. Nah, the Chosen one and all that wouldn't faint at the slightest bit of scary news...would he? Well, obviously he would. Because he did.

_Ginny walked in to the living room, to look for Harry - and she found him. He was sat on the sofa, watching tv, but he looked over to her when she walked in the room. _

_"Hey, Gin." He smiled. They'd been getting on better since she'd had that potion, but Harry suspected it was because of their little argument before hand, where she'd apologised. _

_"Harry..." Ginny said slowly, and Harry diverted his full attention to her. It was obvious something was bothering her, and if he could help her, then he would._

_"What's up?" He asked, standing up and walking over to her._

_"Nothing much." She said casually. "I'm tired, I feel sick, oh, and yeah, before I forget, I think I'm carrying your baby."_

_Harry had spluttered a lot at that "What?" He asked, hoping he'd misheard her. _

_"Pregnant, Harry. I'm guessing it was that potion to be honest." _

_Harry didn't say anything. __**Thud. **__Ah. That was why. He'd fainted. "...Damn." Ginny muttered, bending down and poking him in the side. Okay, so that wasn't quite how she'd wanted it to go._

_----_

"Lavender." Ron said, shaking his head, "try saying that slowly."

"Jeez, Weasley, are you deaf?" She asked, sighing, "I said: I think _I'mpregnantwithyourbaby._"

Ron blinked, "Again, go slowly. You speed up on that last sentence, and it's hard to understand what you're saying."

Lavender growled, making Ron take a step back. "I. Am. Pregnant. With. Your. Baby." She made sure to leave a pause between each word.

"Holy bloody buggering hell!" Ron said, loudly, "How'd you work out that it was mine? I don't remember this. Why don't I remember creating a baby with you?"

"...Potion. Duh." Lavender said, flipping her hair out.

"...Ohh damn." Ron muttered, his face going pale quickly, letting his freckles stand out, before he sunk to the ground. Lavender groaned, and walked off, leaving him there. If he couldn't handle the news, then she wasn't helping him. Plus, she wasn't supposed to lift heavy loads in this condition...


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Sorry about the lack of update yesterday, I was with my cousin, and didn't have computer access. This chapter was kinda hard to write, like the last one. But they complete a new task, so we're getting somewhere here. =D Oh, and if I'm correct Hermione's birthday is in September, and should be coming up within this story? I'll check it out later - it's been about 3 weeks in to September though, so I might be a bit late...Enjoy!**

Draco hadn't actually moved since Hermione had told him that she was "pregnant" and she was starting to think he'd gone in to shock, either that, or in deep though... But come on, this was Malfoy. Deep thought was way out of the question. Hermione doubted that he was capable of normal thoughts, nevermind deep thoughts. God only knew what was going through Draco's head at the moment, and Hermione didn't really want to know. He was probably planning on how to kill her in her sleep, so that he didn't have to have a baby with her - she knew she didn't want a baby with him. They were enemies, and this damn course had them acting like they loved each other in public, although luckily they hardly went out in public, because Hermione had to work, and Draco just hated going out.

"Malfoy?" Hermione said, sitting next to him. He didn't even blink. "I'm inviting the others over tonight, we're gunna complete one of the tasks - I spoke to Ginny and Lavender before, and we agreed we need to get done with as many tasks as we can before we have the babies."

"What the _bloody buggering hell _do you think you're planning?" Draco asked, snapping out of his little bubble, and turning to face her. "I refuse to have three pregnant females in the house, and those two dunder heads!"

"They're coming over, and we're watching a film." Hermione stated plainly, it had already been arranged, and she wasn't changing the plans because Draco didn't feel like co-operating. "Oh, by the way, the girls told Harry and Ron... you're the only one that didn't faint."

Draco rolled his eyes, "trust them two to conk out at the first mention of pregnancy."

Hermione shrugged, "I've got a feeling Harry is going to be unconcious twice."

"Weasley?"

"Yup. Ron'll probably just have words with him, because hopefully he'll click that Ginny had the same spell placed on her that Lavender did."

"This _is _Weasley." Draco stated the obvious. He didn't think Ron was clever enough to click on to anything. And he was annoyed that he'd have to spend time with the other four, when living with Hermione was bad enough. Not because he hated her, or anything like that, but she just constantly reminded him of how Gryffindor she really was, and whenever he saw her, in his mind he saw Harry and Ron stood next to her - it was how it normally was.

He was envious of her, about the fact that she had such good friends, but he knew that friends were a weakness, and not many Slytherin's had true friends, they might have one, like Draco and Blaise, but it wasn't as common unlike the Gryffindor's who pretty much befriended anyone who wasn't a Slytherin. He knew though, that it was his own fault. If he hadn't have acted so obnoxious, and mean then maybe the others would be his friend, but he couldn't go back and change the way he acted, so there was no point in moping about it. Instead, he needed to think of a way to prevent those _idiots _from coming in to his and Hermione's house, because he knew that he really couldn't be bothered with them.

He turned to tell Hermione this, but she'd already left the room. He knew that he didn't have a lot of time, it was already past five, and they'd be here soon. He sighed, God this was going to be a long night. He just had that feeling.

---

Ginny and Harry had turned up at six, and despite the fact that Draco had tried to keep them out, and bolted the door, Hermioone let them in and told them to go to the living room whilst she, in her words, "beat the hell outta Malfoy." Draco had thought it best to run and hide, and wait for Weasley and Brown to turn up. They did, much sooner than Draco would have liked, and he was called downstairs, and told to sit down whilst they put a film on. Draco hoped with everything he had that it was a short film, and that the other four people would be going home soon.

"Lion King?" Draco said, when Hermione asked him his opinion. He flushed after he said it, realising just what it was he'd suggested.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him, "Closet Disney fan there, Malfoy?"

"Shut it." Draco said, turning away, and looking at Hermione,

"Actually, I agree. I've not watched that since we were little - and we're being forced to grow up in every other way."

Ginny nodded, "I've never heard of it, but it doesn't sound that bad."

"It's a cartoon film about Lions." Harry supplied to the other three wizards and witches in the room, who had no idea what the film was. Ginny voted for it, along with Lavender - Ron didn't seem to interested, and Harry only agreed because of the look Ginny gave him.

"It's decided then," Hermione said, popping the video in and turning the tv on the right channel. Draco shifted on the sofa so he was comfortable, and tuned out everyone elses chatter, waiting for the film to start. He didn't notice Hermione pull out her camera, and take pictures of them in a group, and he hardly noticed when everyone grouped around him, and took a picture that way. They needed picture evidence, Hermione didn't think that sending them back singing Circle Of Life would prove much.

Draco really got in to the movie again, and even though he'd watched it a load of times, he still found it interesting, and amusing - even more so when Timon and Pumba made their little appearance. He loved those two, and the songs - even though he knew them, he refused to sing them whilst Hermione and her friends were here. He didn't mind walking around and singing them when no one else was in the house, but with five other people? There was no way he was going to sing. Not even if they begged him, or paid him.

...Well, maybe if they paid him, he'd consider it. He knew he wasn't a terrible singer, and it would be a way for him to get more money, then he wouldn't have to get a job. He had it sorted, in his mind. It was the perfect logic. Take their money, sing a song he liked, and then get to stay in bed whilst Hermione had to get up early...perfect.

---

"Bloody hell." Ron said, once the film had ended, "I liked that. For a Muggle invention, it was pretty good.... that Worthog...bloody brilliant."

Hermione laughed, "You should watch some other Disney films then." She said, yawning.

"What! Tonight?" Draco asked, loudly, sitting up quickly. No way was he putting up with her friends for longer than he had to.

"Not tonight, another night. We all need to go eat, and I've got work in the morning." Hermione said, standing up and flicking the tv off.

Ginny stood up as well, and looked at Harry. He'd fallen asleep towards the end of the movie, either that, or he'd passed out again. She wasn't really sure which at first, but the snoring gave it away. He'd just fallen asleep. She knelt next to him, and prodded him in the side.

"Right," he mumbled, turning, trying to get away from Ginny's finger. "I'm up."

"Liar." Ginny said, shaking him.

"Stop it!" Harry groaned, and twisted himself and - much to Draco's horror - burrowing his face in to Draco's arm.

Ginny stopped poking him, "Hold still Malfoy, you move and you ain't gunna like what'll happen...cuz, his heads awfully close to your lap at the moment."

Draco groaned, and kept as still as he could, he'd rather Harry keep his head where it was, instead of where Ginny was insinuating.

Ginny grinned, and stood up, walking away from them both, and whispered something to Hermione, who grinned along with her. Draco didn't want to know what they were saying - he really didn't. He had a feeling he wouldn't like whatever it was. He was right. Hermione approached them, with the camera in her hand, and snapped a shot of them quickly before Draco could even try and move to avoid it. Not that Draco wanted to move, until Harry had moved his head.

"Right. Move him." Draco growled, "You got a picture."

Hermione rolled her eyes, but complied. She knelt next to Harry, much like Ginny had done before, and poked Harry until one of his eyes flickered open. He must have realised who he was leaning on, because after a few seconds he jumped up off the sofa, and gave Draco a "_we'll never mention this again" _look.

"You ready, Ginny?" Harry asked, turning away from the blonde boy. Ginny just nodded, trying to control her laughter. She didn't think Harry would appreciate it much.

Hermione hugged her friends goodbye whilst Draco sulked and ignored them as they each walked out of the door. Finally, they had their own house back to themselves. He wasn't in the mood to put up with other people, he knew that he had to, but tonight he just couldn't be bothered - if he was to even try and be bothered, then he'd have to at least be in a good mood. But right now, he just wanted to go to bed.

Hermione cooked for them, and Draco cleaned up - he was getting good at helping out around the house - he even cleaned whilst Hermione was at work sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes. When he could be bothered, right now though, he was tired, and he figured that if he helped, he could go to bed once it was done - which is exactly what he did, with Hermione not too far behind him.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: I decided that it was the 18th of September in this chapter - so the next chapter will be Ginny/Draco's shopping then it'll be Hermione's birthday... and a task shall be completed then. And if my calculations are correct, then the group should be leaving at the very beginning of July... So it's doubtful they'll be returning to Hogwarts... I'm already thinking of a sequel though, so lemme know if you want one...?**

Hermione rolled out of bed the next morning, her feet making a soft _thump _on the floor as she landed. Checking behind her to make sure she hadn't woken Draco, she walked around the bed, and left the room, not fully shutting the door. She thought it was unfair of her to wake Draco up everytime she got up for work, although she didn't know that Draco actually wanted to be woken up today, because he wanted to find a job. He was fed up of being sat in the house alone. The few hours that Hermione worked for dragged, and he found himself talking to the cat, and expecting her to talk about. Thinking about Tigger... he hadn't seen her for a day, but her food dish kept emptying it's self. Just where was she hiding?

Heading for the shower, Hermione made sure she shut the bathroom door in hopes to keep Draco asleep, but he'd woken up when he heard the water turn on, mainly because the pipes where noisy, and Draco was somewhat a light sleeper, well, he had been since he'd got to America. He sat up. Finally, it was Friday - they had the weekend to relax, not that Draco had been doing anything else for the last week and a bit, but tomorrow he got to relax with Hermione, and he could ask her to help him find a job. After a few minutes, he rd the door click open, and sat up in bed just as Hermione walked in. She'd dressed in the bathroom, and now had a towel wrapped around her hair - Draco thought it made her look funny, like she had no hair. He realised just how entertained he was by the smallest things.

"Did I wake you?" Hermione asked, looking on one of the dressers for her hair dryer.

Draco shook his head, "Nah, I wake early anyway." That was a lie, but she didn't need to know that. "It's in the top drawer." He added, watching her look for the little device. Draco didn't see what was so good about it - he'd tried it once, it just blew out hot air, and made his hair all messy. It wasn't good at all. It took his ages to brush his hair back to how he wanted it.

"How'd you know?" Hermione asked, opening the top drawer and pulling out her hair dryer. She'd packed muggles things when she went to Hogwarts, on the off chance she could find a spell that would change their electrical energy in to magical energy - she'd yet to be successful.

"I cleaned up in here the other day and just put it in there." He shrugged, getting out of bed, and going over to his clothes drawers. He was awake now, he might as well get up, then when Hermione left, he could go job hunting, and hopefully have one by the time she came home. He did want to help, and now that there was a baby on the way, he supposed she'd want to stay at home with the baby. She probably had more of an idea about how to look after a baby. Draco had never really been near a baby long enough to learn. What with him being an only child, and the fact that for most of his life he was kept in the Manor. There wasn't really any time that he could just go and see a baby, plus - hardly anyone he knew had given birth recently.

He supposed he'd learn though. Well, he hoped he would. He didn't think it would b a good idea for him to look after a baby, and not know what to do with him or her. Draco had completely zoned out whilst Hermione was getting ready for work, and when he came back to the right planet, she was ready to leave, and giving him instructions to keep the house tidy, and not to wonder off and get lost if he did decide to go outside.

Draco didn't need her to tell him that, although it was nice to know that she cared enough to warn him. He also wondered why she had to go to work so early. Did people seriously get up this early to go clothes shopping? Wait... Lavender Brown... yes. People really did get up this early just to go shopping. How could he forget how obssessed she was with shopping? He felt a little bad for Ron, on some level burried way deep inside of him. Once again, he snapped out of his thoughts just as Hermione was waving goodbye and leaving. He waved briefly before jumping up, and getting dressed. He supposed he could look for a job today, after all there was nothing else that he could do.

...Maybe there was. A knock sounded at the door, causing Draco to stop combing his hair, and go to look at who it was. Who could actually be knocking on the door at this time in the morning? He had a horrible thought as he was walking down the stairs. _What if it's Brown wanting me to go shopping with her? _Oh God, that really would be bad, sure he could cope when he had to go shopping with his mother, just about, but he had a feeling that Lavender was even worse than his mum. And that was something to be scared off, in Draco's opinion. Not that his ever really mattered when it came to stuff like this.

Luckily, it was just the Weasley girl, Ginny. Although he still wondered what she wanted. He hadn't done anything to Potter or Weasley had he? Or Weasley and Brown? Or even Granger? He couldn't recall anything, so he really was lost as to why the small, red-head was stood on his doorstep with her arms folded.

"Malfoy." She said, politely, before looking pointedly at him, "do you know what day it is tomorrow?"

Draco blinked, "Uhm...Sunday?" He said slowly, "Why? Did you forget? Got Church or something?" He'd heard some old women talking about going to Church on Sundays, but he knew that Ginny wouldn't be going to church, she'd sinned too much to even want to go there - she wasn't as innocent as everyone thought she was.

"No!" Ginny said, pushing Draco aside, and walking in to the house, "Tomorrow is Hermione's birthday."

Draco shrugged, "What's that got to do with me?" He asked, he didn't get what she was getting at.

"Well, you gotta get her something." Ginny said, giving him a harsh look. "She's your wife, abeit pretend, but still! Oh, and she also said you needed a job, so we're looking for one whilst we're out."

"What about Potter?" He asked, "Won't he take you out and you can get your friend a gift, and leave me to be the arrogant person I am?" He sneered at her, turning to leave the room that she'd led them to.

"No, because you're not an arrogant person." Ginny said, walking up to him, and grabbing his arm to turn him. "And get your coat, 'cause we're going out."

Draco sighed, but he knew that he should do what she said. Plus, she did say they could look for a job for him whilst they were out, which was a plus, because he really needed one. "Fine. Give me a minute."

Why did he have the feeling he wouldn't even have time to be bored today? Not with Ginny around, that was for sure. This child always seemed to be full of energy, and Draco wondeded how Harry dealed with all the hyperness. He knew that if Hermione was that hyperactive then he wouldn't be able to cope with her. Draco hurriedly finished combing his hair, and pulled on his jacket before going back to get Ginny.

"Come on then, Hermione doesn't work all day." Ginny said, opening the front door and walking out leaving Draco to follow her.


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: I am way sorry for not updating. I have a reason, and it's due to the fact my laptop is dead, kinda. It works, but I have no start bar, or desktop icons, so it's hard getting any programs to run, without knowing their shortcut codes on the Task Manager. When it's fixed, I'll update double... I promise.**

Ginny had called a cab to take them to the nearest shopping centre, ignoring Draco's moaning. He didn't really see why he had to get her a birthday present, she hadn't even mentioned that it was her birthday tomorrow, so technically he shouldn't even know. The only reason he did was because of the youngest Weasley. In some ways, Draco was glad that she'd told him, at least that way he could get in Hermione's good books, because he didn't want her to threaten him with the couch again. Although...he had already figured out that she wasn't that mean, but God knows, she could be particularly moody one day and follow through with it, and that was the day Draco's back hoped never came.

The cab ride wasn't long, but Draco didn't really like the idea of being sat in a metal box, whilsts other metal boxes sped around him. He didn't think it was the safest way of traveling, and was glad that Wizards had invented the broom sticks. It was a lot better, and there were less brooms in the air than there were cars on the road. Once they'd finally come to a stop, and Ginny had dragged him out of the car, Draco had begun to dread this shopping trip, he didn't know how bad Ginny was with shopping, or if she hated it as much as he did. He blamed his mother for his hatred of it, if she hadn't dragged him around the shops when he was little, then he doubted he would have hated it as much.

"Draco! Hurry up, Hermione'll be home in less than ten hours, and we need to make sure it's wrapped up, and we've got to set arrangemnts up with Lavender and Ron as well." Ginny said, speedwalking in to a shop.

"Ten hours?!" Draco repeated, "why would any of that take ten hours?"

"You might not know what to buy, shopping can never be timed or limited, it's over when it's over."

Draco got the sudden feeling that Lavender and Ginny got on quite well. He said nothing, but groaned. There was no way that he was shopping for more than three hours, and that was pushing his patience. He would be fair though, Ginny was doing something nice for him...kinda. Okay, no she wasn't. She was torturing him, in order to force him to buy one of her best friends a present, but hey, she was pregnant, there was no way he was going to argue with her. He did not want to go home with a black eye, and no ribs. He wasn't convinced that Ginny wasn't a "you've got two kidney's, so you shouldn't mind too much if I just go ahead and rip the spare one out of your mouth." kinda girl. If she was, the pregnancy hormones wouldn't do anything to help that case.

"Where are we actually going?" Draco asked, following around aimlessly.

"A gift store, we need to get her a gift, and a card. Then we'll need wrapping paper, and other bits." Ginny shrugged, "stop moaning, because I do not want to hear it. You came of your own accord."

"No I did not!" Draco protested, "I was pulled out of my house, robbed of my keys - and money - and forced to sit in the back of a box with wheels!"

"You still could have said no." Ginny countered.

"I did!" Draco said, "Twelve times."

"I must have been busy."

"...It was whilst you had my ear, dragging me out of my safe haven, and telling me if I didn't get a move on, then Hermione's child would be the only baby I shall ever have."

"Ahh." Ginny smiled, "I remember now."

She didn't say anything else, and she didn't leave Draco any time to reply. instead she just walked off in to another store, leaving Draco with not much choice but to follow. He hoped that it wouldn't be too bad, Draco knew that Ginny was one of the easist to get along with, so he didn't really have to watch his back, unless he royally annoyed her. She was a woman, after all. A pregnant woman. Damn, just what had Draco let himself in for?

He looked around the store, and tried to work out how much money he had. They'd had about 600 dollars left after their mass-food shopping on their first night, and he'd brought a hundred and fifty out with him, which he would replace when he got a job. He also knew that Hermione got paid soon, so there wouldn't be too much problems, and they had enough for more food. He wasn't sure exactly how much to spend on her, it was her Seventeenth birthday, she was offically an age legal witch now, it was a special age, and he did want to acknowledge the fact. He knew that he was excited about his Seventeenth, just because he would be allowed to do magic outside of the house. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he felt like he was getting soft on Hermione, he hadn't really been mean to her for a while, and it might just be because she was carrying his child, he didn't know what it was, but it was almost as if he could easily treat her with respect and like an equal.

Ginny was slightly ahead of him, and he wondered what she was getting Hermione. He also knew that they didn't have a job as of yet, but he'd heard from Hermione that Harry was looking for a job, so was Ron. He gathered that they were doing it to support their children and pregnant "wives". That reminded him, that whilst he was here he should look for a job, because he knew that in very little time, Hermione would't be able to work and they'd need someone to bring in the money.

"Malfoy!" Ginny's voice cut through his thoughts, and he looked at her.

"What?" He asked, "Now what have I done?"

"You're not even looking for presents, you just seem distant and in a world of your own."

"...It's times like this that I wish I was in a world of my own, sadly I am not, and I'm not looking because I don't have any idea what I'm supposed to be buying her. I've never had to buy for anyone's seventeenth before."

Ginny just rolled her eyes, "Jus get her little bits of stuff, she won't expect anything too great off you, considng you're not exactly brilliant friends."

Draco nodded, and looked at the shelves, he wasn't even sure what type of stuff she liked. He'd get her smelly stuff, but he'd probably get the wrong one, and get a smell that irritated her, or one that she couldn't stand. He'd rather get her something he knew she'd like, ad something that she could actually use.

"How about getting her a book?" Draco asked, and Ginny pulled a face, and shook her head.

"No!" She said sternly, "Everyone gets her books, it's her seventeenth, she needs something special."

Draco just shrugged, "Help me then?" He asked, he was confused. What did girls actually like?

"Nope, it needs to be something you've picked."

Draco just nodded, he supposed she had a point. What was the point in him coming, and giving her the present if he didn't even pick it himself? It was like it meant nothing and he was just doing it because Ginny had forced him too, which wasn't really the reason.

He looked at a baby blue bathset, and shugged, picking it up and reading the back. "What about this?" He asked, holding it up.

Ginny walked over, and took it off him, looking at it. "It'll do as one of the gifts, but if you're getting her that, I think you should get her something else as well."

Draco nodded, and took the box back off her. He'd look around somemore and see what he could find.

---

"Hurry the hell up!" Ginny yelled, hopping on the spot, "I need to wee!"

Draco growled, "Oh come on, you went thirty minutes ago!"

Ginny ignored him, but walked back over and pulled his by his arm, leading him to the nearest public toilets. Draco had ended up getting Hermione the bathset, a book on babies and a small delicate bracelet. He'd got the aproval of Ginny was well, and she said that it would be a really good gift, and that she'd like it.

He knew that as soon as Ginny had finished emptying her bladder, they'd be allowed to go home and then he could wrap it up, and they had other plans apparently, but Ginny hadn't told him of them yet. All she'd said if that the other four needed his house, and he had to stay out of hte way with Hermione. He wondered what they wanted to do, and he wondered if he should be scared.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: I realise it might be short, but my laptop has a thing about turning off, so I don't really trust it enough to write a lot, like I was going to. The next chapter was originally going to be with this one, but once again, i'd rather post this than write it all up and lose it. I'm also having to use Word Pad, so if there's a lot of mistakes...that's why... Enjoy! I'm going to start writing the next chapter now whilst I've got my laptop working.**

Draco was wrong, Ginny didn't let him go home after she'd gone to the toilet, instead she had kept to her other part of the deal, and decided it was time to look for a job for Draco. Oh, joy. He didn't really want a job, he was happier to stay at home and just sit there watching tv or even cleaning, work was boring. And it was just something that Draco didn't do.

"Hermione won't be able to work soon," Ginny told him, dragging him towards a dark brown door, with a "Workers Needed" sign pinned to it, "and then she'll have to stay at home with the baby. So really, it leaves you with no choice, someone has to bring money in to the house."

"I don't see Potter with a job." Draco huffed, dragging his feet, "and you're pregnant, shouldn't you be dragging him out?"

"Harry's gone getting a job today actually, he's done quite a lot, compared to you." Ginny turned and grabbed his arm, pulling him, "come on! The store will be shut."

"I don't even know what type of store it is, why would I want to work there?" Draco didn't want her to drag him, even though he didn't like her, she was "pregnant" and it wouldn't be good for her to strain.

"Oh, just come on." Ginny said, frustrated. She noticed that Draco was walking in time with her now, and let go of his arm. If he was going to walk, then he didn't need her to drag him. She was taking him to a bookstore, she thought it would be a pretty easy job for him. She wasn't too mean, she knew that he wouldn't be used to working, and therefore he'd need something easy. She also knew that Draco wouldn't really allow Hermione to work when she got too far on, but no one knew what the aging was because of the potions. For all Ginny knew, she could be popping her child out in a weeks time. She knew that they wouldn't use real time, because then they'd end up spending the whole nine months pregnant, and wouldn't really get anything done.

She pushed Draco in front of her when she reached the door, and allowed him to walk in first. It was him afterall that needed the job, not her.

"Go on!" She pushed him again, towards the counter, "go ask for a job." She knew that he was probably going to mess things up, but she didn't follow him over. This was his responsibility, and he had to get the job himself, it wouldn't work for Ginny to land him the job, because for all she knew, he'd totally suck at it. She decided to browse the shelves instead, and look for any good books on parenting, much like the one Draco had gotten Hermione for her birthday. She figured that a good book would be helpful, even if the child wouldn't quite be like a normal child, it would still give them some pointers on how to look after them whilst they're a baby. It also got her out of the way so Draco wouldn't be able to look to her for help if he got stuck.

After pulling down three books and reading the back, she decided to only get one. Walking back to the front, she saw that Draco was sat down in one of the seats avaliable, and looked bored. Maybe he was waiting for her. She walked up to him and kicked his foot.

"So?" She asked.

Draco shrugged, "I got the job, I start on Monday. Apparently that's when it gets busy, and they don't need no one on weekends. Hermione's got the day off tomorrow as well, so maybe no where opens on Sunday?"

Ginny shrugged, "Dunno, let me go pay for the book, then we can go back to our homes." She walked over to the counter, and put the book down, handing the man some money. He smiled at her, placing the book in a bag.

"See you on Monday, Mr Malfoy." He said as they were leaving. He was looking forwards to having some help around the store.

Ginny kept to her word, and when they were out of the shop, she ordered a taxi to take them back to Draco's. She had a plan, and even though she knew it wasn't Hermione's birthday today, if she had the day off tomorrow, then they were celebrating tonight. She'd just have to go home and let Harry know, and in turn Ron and Lavender. They were helping. They were celebrating their friend's birthday, and also completing another task, of course this meant that Hermione and Draco didn't get to complete the task, but they'd have other chances. Ginny wanted to do something nice for her friend; after all Hermione had been there for her when she was little, and had even helped her get Harry. And Ginny had been crushing on him for a long time.

Ginny also knew what Hermione was like, and knew that she probably wouldn't agree with what she'd had planned. Then again, she knew the teachers and her parents wouldn't agree either, but what the hell? She'd managed to get hold of some stuff, from the man who lived next door to her. He was a nice man, and he hadn't even told Harry what he'd brought for her. Then again, she did tell him not too, and she paid him a little extra. Ginny was surprised that Harry hadn't noticed that some of the money had gone.. She had submitted an essay though, to gain the money back, it was an essay she knew she'd done good on.

"I'm going to run over to Ron's and let him know I've changed the plans." Ginny said when they'd got back to Draco's. She didn't elaborate any further, instead just ran off across the road. Draco was completely glad he knew what was going on. He didn't think on it any longer though, he knew he'd never be able to figure her out. Instead he'd concentrate on the important stuff, like wrapping the present up and making sure the house was clean enough for when Hermione got back.

He got their bags, Ginny had left hers with him but he gathered that since she was coming in, he might as well take both of them. He wasn't sure he wanted Ginny and the rest in his house, he didn't really get off with them. Ginny was okay, however, and it seemed as though she'd at least forgave some of the things he'd done. He unlocked his front door, and left it slightly open for Ginny before putting the stuff down on the sofa. He knew he had scissors in the kitchen drawer, and he'd brought the wrapping paper and selotape. It was weird not having spellotape, he'd found that much easier.

Ginny returned a few minutes later, "they'll be coming across in about two hours." She said, "All three of them, we need you to get Hermione out of the way... persuade her to dress nice, tell her we're taking her out if you have too... just make sure she's out of the way and doesn't know what's going on."

Draco nodded, "I'll just tell her to go bath, because we've got to meet with the Unknown Wizard, or something..." He shrugged, "does this mean I have to dress nice as well?"

Ginny nodded, "of course it does." She said, "We all have too."

Draco just rolled his eyes, "Can I ask what you're doing to my house?"

"You can ask, but I ain't telling you, it's a surprise, plus if you know, Hermione would probably be able to get it out of you."

Draco nodded, she had a fair point. Draco wasn't the best at keeping secrets and if he knew, he'd mock her with it, and then she'd get annoyed and force him to tell her...then Ginny would probably hurt him. In the long run, it was safer for him if he didn't know. He valued his life too much to be killed by curiosity.

Ginny was glad that Draco didn't ask to know, she didn't want it being ruined for Hermione, that was unfair. She had a lot to do, but there wasn't much point in starting until it was nearly time for Hermione to come home.

"Draco, you think you can prevent Hermione from coming in to the living room until tonight?" Ginny asked, she could at least start decorating now.

"Uhm... I can try?" He shrugged, he didn't know if he could keep her out of there, he'd need a good reason.

"You'll do it, now, away with yourself. Go bath or something ready for when Hermione gets home."

Draco pulled his face at Ginny, but listened to her. He walked up the stairs slowly and headed for his bathroom. He figured if he spent a while in the bath, she couldn't make him do anything else, and he'd be free to just keep Hermione out of the way once she got in.


	31. Chapter 31

**A/N: Whey-hey there. I made this chapter longer than I usually do. Infact I think this could be the most i've wrote on this story, in one chapter? I don't know. But I'm proper glad to say we finally get a little bit of Dramione action. Only a little, and it's right near the end, but hey, you don't go from enemies to being in love in only 31 chapters, do you? ;)**

**Enjoy!**

By the time Hermione had returned home, Draco had had his bath, wrapped up her present, hidden it, got dry, dressed; he'd also managed to change his clothes twice, he wasn't sure exactly what Ginny wanted him to wear, and he'd ended up sat outside waiting for her. He stood when he saw her walking up the path.

"Granger." He greeted, smiling. He had to be nice, after all they were celebrating her birthday tonight, although she wasn't supposed to know.

"Malfoy?" She said, the question obvious in her voice.

"You need to go straight upstairs, and have a bath." Draco told her, he needed her to do t his, or Giny would blame him, and then he'd be the one in pain. Harry, Ron and Lavender were already here, and they had to keep it down so that Hermione didn't know they were here.

"Why?" Hermione asked, one eyebrow cocked upwards. She wasn't going to complain about having a bath, she did want one, but she didn't understand why she had to go straight upstairs, or why she had to have her bath now...

"Because, we've got to go out." Draco didn't tell her anything else, "You've got to dress nice as well, you've got two hours." He turned and opened the door, holding it open for her. "Straight up please."

Hermione wondered if he'd managed to destroy the living room, or something and that was why he wanted her to go straight upstairs. She wouldn't pester him yet, she'd wait til later. She did want to know why they were going out though. Was it as task? Did they have plans to complete one that she forgot about? She didn't know but she did hope to find out soon. She walked in to the house, and was aware of Draco following her, she didn't look back at him, but walked up the stairs and straight in to the bathroom. She'd have her bath, and get ready. She did only have two hours, and that would only just be enough time if she was too look presentable with her hair.

Draco knew he was going to have to vacate his room as well, so she could get ready. He wasn't sure where he was really supposed to go. He wasn't allowed downstairs, he wasn't allowed out of the house in case Hermione tried to go downstairs; and he'd wasn't even allowed in his own bedroom. He had a feeling that he was going to hve to sit on the stairs or something. He knew he had a little bit of time though, whilst Hermione was in the bath. He didn't get what could possibly take her so long, did she find something interesting to do whilst she was in there? Sure she had more hair than him, to wash, but he honestly couldn't think of what could take nearly an hour to do in the bath.

She finally entered, wearing a pair of baggy pyjamas. Her hair was damp but she was in the middle of towel-drying it.

"I'll just leave." Draco said, leaving for the door.

"Kay, I'll see you in an hour?" Hermione smiled, and moved out of the way, heading towards the dresser that contained the hairdryer. Draco knew this was going to be a long hour. He thought about trying to get downstairs, but he knew that it was a stupid thought and Ginny would probably maim him before he got over the door way. There wasn't much he could actually do. He sat down on the stairs, and just watched the front door. He was going to have to teach that thing tricks. He slouched slightly, then saw a small bundle of fur running towards him. He held his hand out, and grabbed it as it tried to make a dash past him.

"They've thrown you out too, then aye?" He asked, stroking behind Tigger's ears. She just meowed back at him, and rubbed her head against his hand. He was beginning to get a soft spot for this cat. It was actually adorable.

Hermione opened the door part way, "I thought you didn't like that cat?" She asked, raising one eyebrow. As far as Draco could tell, she wasn't anywhere near ready. Instead of answering her, he just poked his tongue out and turned back to the cat. Hermione laughed, and shut the door again. That boy was so confusing sometimes. He could be nice when he wanted to be though, and she had a feeling that tonight was going to be a good one. He seemed to be in a happy mood.

From his spot on the stairs, he saw Ginny, Lavender, Ron and Harry move quietly towards his front door. He stood, and caught their attention, coming down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at them. Had they done already?

"We need to get ready ourselves." Ginny whispered, "We'll be back in around an hour, do not go in the living room, because if I find out that you have, I will seriously kick your bum in to next week."

Harry shrugged at Draco, "Best do as she says, Malfoy." He smiled, "she's serious. She just tackled Ron in there, I'm surprised you didn't hear all the noise.

Draco shrugged, he hadn't really been listening out for it. He was too busy talking to the cat, although he wouldn't tell them that. They'd think he was insane. Instead he just turned around, and headed back up the stairs, sitting down on his recently vacated step.

---

Time seemed to go quicker, and it wasn't long before Hermione was opening the bedroom door up for him. "I've finished getting dressed, you can come back in if you want." She didn't say anything else, but walked back in to the room, and attempted to straighten out her hair. Draco stood, groaning slightly as his back clicked in to place and walked in to the bedroom. He looked around, the place was full of make up, and smelt very much like girly smells. Draco didn't like it one bit. He looked over to Hermione and smiled at her. She was wearing a simple black dress, just below her knees, and Draco - to his own surprise, could see a tiny bump sticking out of her abdomen. That potion was working fast. It felt weird for him to know that it was his child right there, even though he'd done nothing with the female in question, although he was happy about it. He had to admit, and he had a feeling that this course was going to be fun, and possibly help him out with his life choices.

"Hermione!" It was Ginny's voice, shouting up the stairs. Draco hadn't heard her come back in, but she obviously had. He wondered if the two dunder heads had followed her back.

"Just a minute, Gin." Hermione responded. She'd just about finished her hair. It was straight now, but she was in the middle of pinning it up. She didn't like her hair in her face.

"Malfoy!" It was Harry this time, "come here, please. We need your help...with...uhm...manly stuff."

Draco rolled his eyes, that was the best he could come up with? Manly stuff? Wow.. and this guy saved the wizarding world, how? Probably hit on Voldemort in the middle of the battle, and gave the old man a heart attack. Draco always knew there was a queer side to him. He left the room though, he was interested in what Harry could want.

"Is Hermione nearly done?" Harry asked when Draco got to the bottom.

"Yeah," Draco replied, "She said she'd be about five minutes. She's just finishing her hair off."

Draco thought that she'd gone pretty fast, he' thought that it would have taken her longer to get ready, especially since she thought they were going out.

"So what do you have planned?" Draco asked, wanting to know what was going on in his own home.

Harry shrugged, and pulled a face, "just a dinner party, but Ginny and Lavender want to make it fun, because they don't know how much time they'll have after this, what with the babies and all."

Draco nodded, "what type of fun?"

"Well, don't say anything, but I'm sure I saw Ginny with alcohol bottles before. I want to make sure though before I say anything. If they think they're drinking, they're much mistaken. I'm not having a ill child for the sakes of a celebration."

Draco nodded, for once he agreed with Potter. Wow. What a day this was going to be.

Hermione walked down the stairs a few moments later, and Draco went over to help her, he wasn't sure why, it just felt like the right thing to do especially with all her friends there watching him. He knew he had to be the best that he could be towards Hermione today, mainly becauae they'd probably maim him if he wasn't.

"Hermione." It was Ginny that had began to speak. "We decided, as a whole, that even though we were on this course, you deserved a good birthday. Even though you're techincally of age, you're not in the wizarding world, so we can't take you out. Instead we brought the celebration to your house. Draco knew little about it, and was forced by me to lie to you."

Hermione blinked, "you mean you've been running around all day to sort out a party of such for me?" She asked, and when Ginny nodded, she moved over to her best friend, and embraced her tightly.

Ginny smiled, and broke away, signalling that it was time for them to go in the living room and actually get this all started.

Hermione pulled on Draco's arm, just as he was about to walk through into the living room with her friends. "Did you know something about this?" She asked, cocking her head off to the side.

"I knew what was going on, if that's what you meant, I didn't know what she was doing though, or what she had planned." Draco replied, shrugging slightly, wondering why she wanted to know. He was surprised when she smiled at him, and threw her arms around his neck. He wasn't really sure what to do, so patted her back a few times until she let go.

"Thank you, Draco, for at least having a very small part in it." She said softly, before walking in to the living room, and to her friends. Draco wondered why she felt the sudden need to hug him. Maybe it was the pregnancy hormones? Yeah... he'd rather think it was that than think that she actually wanted to hug him. That was a stupid thought.

He walked in and was almost instantly shouted over by Ginny. Then he remembered, he had a gift for Hermione.

"Draco." Ginny said, smiling, "Where did you put your gift?"

Draco blinked, "Kitchen cupboard." He answered, "why?"

"Nevermind why, go get it and give it her." Ginny shook her head and walked off. Damn, that kid was kinda slow in the head. Ginny thought he would have give it to her whilst they were upstairs, but Hermione had given her a clue that he hadn't.

Draco actually did as he was told, and ambled off in to the kitchen, to get the present for her. He hoped that he didn't have to give it to her alone, because then it would probably look like he was in love with her or something. Maybe they were all giving the presents together, that's why Ginny wanted him to get his now? He didn't know, but he retreived the present from a high shelf in the cupboard and made his way back in to the living room, keeping the small parcels out of sight for the time being. Ginny saw him, and walked over to Hermione, followed by everyone else and called him forwards. Ahh, yeah they were all giving Hermione their gifts.

----

Once Hermione had recieved all her gifts, Ginny had made them sit down at the table. She'd even given them seating arrangements. She was serious about making this a good night. Draco was somewhat grateful for the fact that she'd sat him next to herself and Hermione. Ron was on the other side of Hermione, next to Lavender and Harry was on Ginny's right. It all worked out good. Draco trusted Hermione and Ginny more than he did the others. He guessed it was because those were the only two who were nice to him. Ginny had prepared a meal for Hermione, and then Draco realised that they were completing the dinner party task, and that Hermione and Draco were their guests. He wasn't sure how they were going to go about it, but it looked like they'd figured it out. Harry had to be called in to help Ginny bring the plates in, but it was done pretty quickly and they all managed to sit down to eat peacefully with no arguements. Ron and Harry were even being nice to Draco, which was surprising.

They were having a good time and it seemed that Hermione was as well, which Draco was glad off. He knew that it was Ginny's aim to give Hermione a good night.

"Right," Ginny said, once she'd made Harry and Ron clear the table, "I contacted our unknown wizard, and explained the situation to him and although we're supposed to have no ties to the wizarding world, he did me a favour."

Lavender looked at her, "What favour?"

"Well, I asked him if it was possible to get Fire Wiskey, but he said no, as we were "pregnant" but he did get us some Butterbeer. He said maybe when we're all seventeen and not pregnant will he considering trying to get us alcohol."

"If we were in England, or Italy or at least in Europe somewhere, it would have been so easy to get Alcohol for tonight." Lavender said, shrugging, "they've got some of the lowest age laws."

Ginny nodded, "Butterbeer is better anyway. It's hot without scolding your throat."

Lavender smiled and Ginny wondered off to get the aforementioned drinks, whilst Draco went over to Hermione.

"Hey." She said, smiling. He noticed she was weaing the bracelet he'd got her as a gift and smiled.

"You look nice," he said, his eyes traveling to the small bump. He could have sworn that it was getting bigger.

"Well, I was told we were going somewhere and I had to dress nice."

Draco smiled, "true... but how did you get your hair like that in less than an hour?"

She shrugged, "It just happened..."

Draco placed a hand on her hair, softly, not wanting to muss it up. "I've wanted to do that since third year." He laughed.

Hermione was confused, "Why?"

"Someone told me it felt prickly, in Second year, and I believed them."

"So why since third year."

"After you slapped me... Even though it hurt, it was hard not to notice that your skin was kinda soft, so I wondered if it could be true about your hair."

Hermione laughed, "And your verdict is?"

"Your hair is nothing like prickly." He smiled down, and she shook her head. It wasn't weird being this close to her anymore, like it might have been last year. Then again, they did somewhat hate each other last year.

What was weird though... was when Draco's hand fell to Hermione's cheek, but it was bliss when he lowered his lips to hers softly, for a brief second. It just made it all the more better when she responded instead of pushing him away. Breaking away, he put his head against hers lightly.

"Happy Birthday, for Tomorrow, Hermione." He winked, and walked away.

Hermione swore she fainted.


	32. Chapter 32

**_A/N: Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! My laptop finally completely died, and I couldn't get it working. I'm on a different pc at the moment, so I'm going to write as many as I can tonight, before I gotta go home... I'm really truly sorry, and I'll try and write loads to make up for it. Forgive me! Ily guys!_**

Hermione and Draco had shared shy looks all night, and they hadn't gone unnoticed. Ginny had been witness to most of them, and she had a feeling she knew what was going on. Of course she wasn't going to say anything until she knew, but she had a feeling that those two were getting on along a lot better than any of them planned. She was glad - she knew that Harry and Ron wouldn't be though. The way Ginny saw it, Hermione and Draco were both intelligent, and although Draco could be a little inconsiderate sometimes, he was nice when he wanted to be. In regards to being brought up a gentleman, he was the good. Ginny knew that Draco wouldn't harm her friend, and although he'd made her cry, she knew that he had also never raised his wand to her on purpose.

She walked up to Hermione and winked, "So, anything interesting happened?" She asked, fully hinting for Hermione to share. Instead Hermione just shook her head,

"Nothing." She said, with a sigh, glancing over to the corner where Ginny suspected Draco would be perched. "Ginny, has your bump got bigger?"

Ginny looked down with a frown. "It appears to have," she said slowly, and then looked at Hermiones' "So has yours!" They both turned to where Lavender was stood, and squinted their eyes.

"What do you think?" Ginny asked, tipping her head.

"I think her's is the same as it was before." Hermione answered, "You definatly have the biggest bump at the moment though."

Ginny nodded, "I know. I better not be having a big baby...I'm not even sure how we're supposed to give birth. Surely it can't be natural, these aren't even natural circumstances."

Hermione nodded, agreeing completely with her friend. She had a good point, they hadn't been told how they were supposed to have their children yet. She supposed they'd find out soon enough - either they'd be told, or they'd know about it when it was time for them to have the sprogs. Hermione hoped they were warned before hand, and if it was a some weird messed up version of natural birth, she already felt sorry for the lads. They were going to be terrored, and Ron would probably be beat after it was finished.

Ginny looked over to Draco, to find him looking over at them, or namely - Hermione, and decided that it was time she disappeared to leave a clear track for them. They lived together and were about to be 'parents' it wouldn't seem strange for them to be talking, and Harry and Ron were too stupid to jump to conclusions without hints off other people. Ginny just hoped Lavender didn't notice and say something to Ron - he was the worst one to know. He was protective over Hermione, and he didn't trust Draco at all. If he thought there was something going on then he'd be on Draco quicker than anything.

Ginny wasn't even sure what time it was, and knew that they couldn't stay up too late - She didn't know about the rest of them, but she was beginning to feel tired, and if Lavender slumped out on the sofa was any hint, so was she. Maybe it was just the pregnancy thing, because the boys seemed to be full of energy still, laughing and joking together in one of the corners.

As soon as Ginny had walked away, winking once more at her friend, Draco had started to wonder in her general direction, and her in his. If she didn't suspect that something was going on, she wouldn't think anything of it, but she decided that she had to keep a closer eye on them two from now on. If a relationship was forming, she wanted to be one of the first to know. She kind of already knew, which would mean she was the first to know because it didn't even look like they knew that they were forming a relationship. They seemed confused, after all it wasn't every day that your enemy suddenly looks attractive to you.

She walked over to Harry and Ron, and placed her hand on Harry's arm, giving a little sigh. "I'm tired," she said softly, glacing at Ron, "and I think Lavender is ready to go back to bed, do you think we could slip out?"

Harry looked at Ron, then over to where Lavender was, "Ginny has a point, Lavender looks ready to drop, and she's lay down. It's not good to keep her away, plus, you're safe whilst she sleeps."

Ron raised his eyebrows, "You'd think, wouldn't you?" He said, shaking his head, "Nah, she's violent in her sleep too. There's no escaping it."

Ginny laughed, and tugged on Harry's arm, "C'mon," She complaining. Harry complied and let her drag him away from Ron with a small shrug of his shoulders, and waved goodbye at Hermione. Both she and Draco returned it, and then looked over a Ron - who was in the middle of trying to wake Lavender up, and avoiding being punched in the nose. It wasn't going too well. In the end, he just picked her up, and started towards the door.

"Later, Hermione," he said, like he didn't have a pregnant lady over his shoulder, "In a bit Malfoy." He added, with a short nod of the head, following his sister and his best friend out of the door, and in to the night. It was later than they thought it was, and it had started to get dark.

"So..." Draco said slowly, "They've gone." He stated the obvious, but the truth was, things felt a little awkward. He wasn't sure what was going on, and to be honest, he wasn't sure why he kissed her. He'd blame it on the hormones, but he wasn't the pregnant one.

"So it would seem." She agreed, she felt slightly uncomfortable, and she wasn't too sure what was happening with them. Where they getting closer? Gaining feelings? She was completely confused, but happy.

Draco knew that he wasn't the only one who was getting the awkward vibe, and he could only think of one way to solve that. So, for the second time that night, he pressed his lips to hers - this time not scared that anyone could see them and beat him up. His arms went around her middle, and her arms went around his neck as she responded happily to the soft pressure his lips were applying against hers. It was innocent, but confused. Why were they kissing again? Did this mean that they found each other mutually attractive?


	33. Chapter 33

**A/N: I am back! I'm writing the next ones now, and I hope to have them up at some point today, or early tomorrow morning. We'll see. I'm also going to write out another story, but not yet post it. Any ideas, you guys? You'll get full credit, don't worry. **

Hermione woke up with a dead-weight over her middle, and groaned. She'd hardly got any sleep last night, not after everyone had gone home, and her and Draco had stayed up most of the night talking...and other stuff. She'd also found that by the time they'd both fallen in to bed, she couldn't sleep. Instead she opened one of the books Draco had brought her, and read up on what happened. Even though the books spoke about normal pregnancies, and hers was far from that, she wanted to have a decent outline on what to expect. It might be a little helpful in the long run.

She rolled over, and came nose-to-nose with Draco. How close did that boy want to be? At least she knew what the weight on her body was. His arm. If she'd been drinking the night before, she'd be worried right now as to why he was so close and snuggling with her. Unfortunately, she remembered everything they'd done last night, the two kisses they'd shared and how confused they both were. They wasn't sure what they were supposed to do, or what it meant, and Hermione thought that if they ignored it, it would disappear. Draco didn't agree, he said that if it was the start of some small feelings, then ignoring them would make it worse, and that if it was something to do with pregnancy hormones on her side, she might jump on him and attack him if she didn't find a different way to vent her feelings. He prefered kissing her than being hit by her, by a longshot. He'd have took that choice in third year as well, that hit had hurt. He hadn't been lying.

"Draco!" Hermione shook his shoulder, "Wake up!" She hated being the first one awake when they'd had less than a few hours sleep - Draco was always so hard to wake up. He just didn't want to move, no matter what Hermione did to him. It usually involved a lot of poking.

Instead, his eyes opened as soon as she'd stopped shaking him, "What's up?" He asked, his voice cracking half way through his sentence.

"We need to get up and clean." She reminded him, "we didn't do it yesterday, we were--" she blushed, "slighty preoccupied."

Draco just nodded, a wide yawn covering his face, before running his hands over his hair, trying to make it flat. It didn't really work, and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. She loved seeing him first thing in a morning, he looked so silly - not that she'd tell him that. He'd probably start sleeping with curlers in his hair, and a net to keep it in place. He was very sensitive about his looks and his hair.

Hermione moved away from him, and threw the quilt back off her body, and slid out of bed bonelessly. She really didn't feel like moving, but she couldn't slack off on her responsibility. After all, this was a school course, and she didn't want to fail so she was going to do things probably. She also had to make sure that Draco did things properly too, because his grade affected hers. She uderstood that he wasn't used to living like a Muggle, and that he would need a bit of help with the more complicated things but the rest he could do.

"I got a job." Draco told her, pulling himself out of bed, "It was all the Weasley girl's idea." He added so that it didn't seem like he was taking in interest in this course, he gathered that they all knew he wouldn't try and get himself a job without being forced in to it.

"Oh," Hermione looked over at him, her eyebrows raised slightly, "Where at?" She was truely interested. She was glad he was trying.

"A bookstore in town." He shrugged, "It's kinda nice, you'll have to go at some point."

She nodded, and grabbed her hair tie from the table beside the bed, "I probably will, when I don't have to go to work." She tied her hair up, and pinned up her fringe in a quiff.

"You working today?" He questioned, pulling a face.

"Yup," Hermione said, "I'm going to have to take my maternity leave soon though. How far along would you say I was?"

"I dunno. Send a message out to Unknowny and see if he knows. Leave a note outside, in a milk bottle like the letter told us to do."

Hermione nodded, that was a good idea, plus they needed to know just how long they had to go. There was still some stuff they needed to buy, and they had to figure out how to sort out some of the rooms. There was the spare room, which Hermione had already decided would be turned in to the nursery when the time came. Obviously the baby would be sleeping in their room for the first few months, for at least six months, anyway. She remembered the letter McGonagall had sent her, and then remembered that her owl had stayed. She'd have to send it back at some point, and it would be the perfect way to ask her.

She ran downstairs without giving Draco any hint what she was doing, and dashed in to the kitchen. The owl was there still, perched on top of the cupboards, she smiled and grabbed a piece of paper to start penning out her letter.

_Professor. _

_I'm sending back your owl, my health seemed to have picked up, and I've not been ill at all. I'd like to ask though, if you could get in touch with our unknown wizard, and ask him to drop me a hint as to how far along I, and the rest, are, and if he knows how fast we're developing. It's for our own piece of mind, and so that we've got everything ready in time._

_Thanks, Hermione Granger&&Draco Malfoy. _

She didn't bother writing Hermione Malfoy - she didn't see the point. The professor obviously knew that they weren't married, and it was unnessesary. She tied the letter to the owls leg and watched it soar out of the window, heading back to Scotland, back to it's owner, and she sighed. She missed the large castle, and couldn't wait until she was allowed back there. She turned and walked back up stairs, determined to get ready for work. Draco would have to keep an eye out of the unknown wizard and his message. She hoped they were allowed to know.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. I've just officially finished my GCSE's and am now FREE from school! Anyone wanna celebrate with me? ;) Aha. Hope you enjoy the update. I'm gunna skip a week in the next one, I don't want this to be like two hundred chapters long. It gets kinda boring after a while.**

Hermione gave up in the end. When she'd got back upstairs, Draco was back asleep again, not even fully in the bed. His legs were hanging out, and the quilt was over his face, slightly muffling the light snoring. Hermione supposed that he was really tired, and didn't even bother waking him up again. Instead she just got ready, and left for work. He'd wake up by himself eventually.

When he did wake up, it was to a soft knock on the door. He pulled himself out, grumbling the whole time. If this was those two idiots he was forced to be near, he was going to kill them, and then get back in bed. When he got to the door though, and opened it, there was no one there. Now he really was going to have a fit and kill someone. Patience. Had they never heard of it? He checked the ground to make sure that there wasn't any potions again, and saw a letter curled up and pushed slightly under the mat.

_Mrs and Mr Malfoy._

_Got your letter, kinda, through Minne. I gotta tell you you're five months along - you think you've got a bump, I saw Mrs Weasley today. She's ballooned over night. She's six months though, and Mrs Brown is only three months. Although, remember guys, the months mean nothing. Premature birth could happen, or your kid might just not want to come out after the nine months. It could be nine months and a week or something rather silly before you have your child._

_Good luck! You'll need it!_

_Unknowny x_

Draco shook his head, that Unknown Wizard had to be on drugs or something. There was no way that anyone was that weird normally. Then he thought about Ron, and changed his mind. There was a way you could be that weird normally. If you were Ron, it was wrote in to your genes at the very beginning. He screwed the letter up in his hand, and remembered the dates. He'd tell the other two families their new when he saw them - unless they also got a letter.

It all started to feel to real, only four months left until they were supposed to have their child, and techincally it wasn't going to be four months. It'd probably be around three weeks away. They really did have to start getting the rooms ready now. Draco had to be in work tomorrow, which would mean extra money was being brought in. Not a lot, but mixed with Hermione's and the money they could earn from doing their essays, they would manage quite fine. Draco was excited to be ale to work to help look after his child - sure it wasn't really their child, and he never thought he'd even be looking forwards to the day that Hermione bore his child, but hey. What did he know? Things change.

He stumbled back in to the kitchen, fully determind to make himself a cup of coffee - he had no idea what the time was, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. The kitchen was a mess, but the living room was clean - Draco guessed Hermione had done it before she'd left this morning. He decided to do his part, and forget his coffee in order to clean. It took a lot for him to do that, coffee was his morning drug, he hated not having it now. He never used to be like that, it was probably because he had to spend so long by himself that he'd got addicted to the stuff. He hoped he was allowed to drink it at work.

He spent a few hours trying to find where everything was supposed to go, and stopped to make himself something to eat and a drink, before the kitchen was completely clean again. He was proud of his work, it looked good - and he didn't think it was fair making Hermione do everything, considering she was pregnant, and got tired easily. He wasn't as bad as people thought - not really.

By the time he was fully done, it was nearly time for Hermione to come home, and Draco was aware that he stunk, rather badly after labouring the day away. He ran up the stairs, quickly and turned the bath on, grabbing some clean jeans and a simple tee-shirt, and his towel before jumping in the bath, while it was running. He didn't bother with cold water, he didn't have time. Instead he just washed his hair quickly, and scrubbed himself with soap and a cloth. He didn't want her to think that his hygine habits were going down just because he didn't have work today. He pulled himself out and wrapped the towel around his middle when he heard the door open, and Hermione's feet on the stairs.

"Draco?" She called, her voice sounding wary, and tired. He wondered what the matter was.

"One sec!" He shouted, making sure his towel was fully around him. He didn't want to flash her, that would probably kill her.

He walked out of the bathroom slowly, and saw her. She looked bad, her eyes were dark, and her skin pale. "What's up?" He asked, going over to the top of the stairs.

Hermione didn't even seem to notice that he was very barely dressed, "I don't feel too good." She said slowly, her hand gripping the banister for support, her fingers turning white with the force she was using. Draco realised that she was telling the truth, and she really didn't look too good. He had no idea what he was supposed to do though. Phone a doctor? Or just see if it was part of the course and if she got better naturally. He hated not having a proper way to contact a teacher - and God knew where Unknowny is. There was pretty much nothing much that he could do. If she wasn't better by tonight though, he was going to leave a letter outside, just to double check that this was natural. He'd say that it was morning sickness, but he knew that she'd already been through that stage. He hated not knowing a lot about pregnancy either, it made it harder for him when Hermione needed him.

"Come on," He muttered, sliding an arm around her waist, his other clutching his towel. "Let's go downstairs." He guided her down slowly, keeping his arm around her tightly to help her keep her balance. He led her in to the living room, and gave her a light shove so that she landed on the sofa.

"Stay there," he said, his voice strict, "just until you feel a little bit better." He turned the tv on for her, and turned the video player on - Lion King... oops... He'd forgotten to take that out the other night obviously. She didn't say anything though, she just glued her eyes on the screen, and placed a hand on her stomach. It reminded him of the letter that the Unknown Wizard had sent him.

"By the way," he said softly, "you're five months along."


	35. Chapter 35

**A/N: I'm back! I got caught up reading a book, I'm afraid and I just lost the time to write. I'm back and I'm thinking about doing another story now that I've got time off school. What do you think? It's another Hermione/Draco... but it's not as fun as this one is...**

Draco had waited in the living room until Hermione had finally fallen asleep on the sofa, before going upstairs to get dressed. He didn't think it was a good idea for him to stay around in his towel. If one of her dorky friends came over, then he'd probably have a lot of explaining to do. He took the stairs two at a time, and just pulled on a pair of sweats and a baggy tee-shirt. He didn't have to make a ginant effort, he wasn't going anywhere.

Although he did have work tomorrow and he hoped that Hermione was feeling better by then because otherwise he didn't want to leave her. He felt that he was supposed to be looking after her whilst they were on this course together and he didn't think that leaving her whilst he went to work was a case of looking after her. It was more like neglecting her. He pulled a brush through his hair and then looked at his face in the mirror. He had bags under his eyes, and felt like he'd been tortured and abused for weeks. He knew Hermione felt worse, probably a lot worse. He knew she'd been having some troubles sleeping, because he'd been woken up in the night a few times by her. He'd never said anything though, he didn't want her to feel bad for waking him up.

Giving up on trying to smooth out his eyes, he put the brush back down on the sideboard, and began his descent down the stairs, heaving back in the living room to make sure that Hermione was still asleep. She needed her rest, plus the more rest she got right now, she might be feeling better tomorrow and Draco would be able to go in to work. It wasn't like he was looking forwards to working, but he knew that they needed the money, it had only been about two weeks and she was already five months pregnant, so he gathered that they had about another two weeks, maybe less.

Whilst they still had enough to buy the basics that they'd need, they'd still need more money for things like more nappies and baby food. He'd heard of a few parents that babies went through nappies like nothing. It made Draco wonder how many times a baby found it appropriate to pee? He was also dreading having to change a nappy, but knew that Hermione would probably make him. That was one woman you couldn't mess around, if she told him to do something, it would probably be easier for him to just do it. Otherwise they'd end up arguing, and then he'd get hurt and end up doing what she asked in the first place, so yeah, it was must easier for him to just get on with it the first time around, instead of having to do it with a broken arm the next time.

He watched her sleep, and whilst that was creepy sounding, it really was just an innocent thing. She looked peaceful, and not like she'd been fighting for her life since she was eleven. He knew that he was getting closer to her, the kisses they'd shared at her Birthday were anvil sized clues to that, but he wasn't quite sure what he did feel for her. Was he crushing on her, or was it digging deeper than that? He was never good at dealing with his emotions, or anyone else's, and he'd never really felt anything more than lust or attraction for the few girls he'd dated. He'd only dated a couple, and he'd broken it off with them when it became obvious they were getting obsessed with him. He didn't need clingy girls after him; he'd prefer to be alone. Pansy was the top of that list, as soon as he'd agreed to go out with her, on one date, she began to follow him around like she was a sheep dog, and he the sheep. It freaked him out and made him uncomfortable. He'd been scared of taking a shower!

He sighed and let that particular train of thought drop, before standing up. He was hungry, and Hermione was asleep so it looked like he was in charge of making food. He usually only had cereal at this hour, but because Hermione was in and he figured that she had to eat too, he was going to try and make something proper.

He walked in to the kitchen, and looked around with a frown on his face. Where did he start? Why was he so confused? He pulled open the fridge and looked in to it, before closing it. It was full of healthy stuff, and Draco just didn't feel like being healthy today. He looked in to the freezer and grinned. There were all sorts of things in here, and hardly any of them seemed to sound all that healthy. That was good. He pulled out a box, and looked at the back of it. It had instructions on how to cook. That was even better. He wouldn't have to try and figure it out. The instructions were right there! He looked at the front again, and found he'd taken out chicken fillets. Was he supposed to put stuff with this? He gathered that he was.

Opening the cupboards, he looked around and found a packet of savoury rice. That would work. He still had no idea what he was doing, but he was trying, and that was the point. Even if he'd done it wrong, at least he'd tried.

Hermione woke up to the smell of smoke. It didn't click at first, nor did it click that she was on the sofa. Until she heard Draco curse, loudly. She jumped up, her queasiness forgotten for the moment, and ran in to the kitchen. There was dark grey smoke billowing around the place, and Draco was stood in front of the oven, spluttering.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him, covering her mouth. She tried to see what was in the oven, and instead saw a pan of rice – well, that obviously wasn't what was causing the smoke. That looked okay, apart from there was no water left in the pan, and the rice was beginning to burn.

"I was trying to cook, and you were asleep. I didn't want to wake you up." He shrugged, and pulled open the oven, his hands bare. "Ow!"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Put your hand under the cold water, now, and don't take it away until I tell you that you can." She pulled a dish towel down, and wrapped it around her hand, before pulling the door open and dragging the try of...chicken (?) out and dropping it on top of the side. It was turning a dark shade of black around the edges, but the reason it had started to smoke? Draco hadn't even took off the plastic bag that covered the chicken. At least he'd taken it out of the box, she supposed.

"What happened?" Draco asked, unsure as to why his dinner had died on him.

"You didn't take it out of the wrapping." Hermione told him simply, "Go on in there, and I'll cook. You can take your hand away now. Does it feel sore? It's not blistered, has it?"

Draco shook his head, and turned off the cold tap. He was useless at this sort of stuff, and he really had no idea how he was supposed to be looking after Hermione.


	36. Chapter 36

**A/N: Here we go. Sorry if it's not long, I'm a bit busy right now but wanted to write this and get it out for you. They should be completeing a task in the next two chapters, and Hermione's going to make a discovery. I don't like this chapter that much. but tell me what you think, true? Enjoyy!!**

It had been a week since the cooking disaster, and Draco had realised he just wasn't as good at all the Muggle stuff as Hermione was. He decided it was better if he just kept to working - after all, Hermione had been put on Maternity leave now. She was massive, as far as Draco was concerned. Although, he'd seen the size of Ginny, and had to say that whilst Hermione was big, she was no where near the size of the youngest Weasley.

Draco felt sorry for Harry, he knew that Harry would have to look after Ginny a lot more than Draco was having to look after Hermione. He assumed all the women were about six-seven months pregnant by now, and it wasn't going to be long until the children were born. Personally, he couldn't wait. He figured that he'd be much better at looking after a child than he would be having to try and work all this Muggle stuff. It was too much hard work for his small brain.

The one thing he had done, was make Hermione stay in bed for longer. The result of that was he was even more tired, due to the fact he'd been running around for her. She'd sent him out at stupid times, to go to the all night store, to buy things that were just un-needed. Like ice-cream. It was nearing winter, why did she need it? He wondered if her body temperature was messed up because of the extra body that was residing in it. He guessed that would make sense. He hadn't complained, much, though when he was sent for it - he was late for work the next morning. After he explained to his boss, the man didn't seem as angry and had told Draco that he understood as his wife had given birth a few months back, which was the reason he needed more help in the store. Draco was glad - he needed the job and the money.

They'd decided that at weekend, they were going to go look for baby furniture. Hermione had made a list of everything they'd need, and although Draco didn't know what most of it was, he'd agreed that they could go and look for it. Ginny had planned to tag along, and Lavender said that she was going with Ron the day after. Ron didn't look all too pleased by it, and Draco wasn't suprised. He'd heard what that girl had been doing to him. Draco knew if Hermione hit him, he wouldn't put up with it. He'd leave her for the night - of course staying close incase she really needed him, but he'd be firm with her, and make sure she knew that he wasn't a punching bag for her anger.

Draco was alone in work today, his boss had the day off and it was his responsibility to lock up at the end of the night. He wasn't too sure how he'd do that, but he'd practicecd at lunch time, and he'd seemed to sercure the place rather well. He was sure he'd manage tonight. It was only just past two 'o clock, and he was itching to get home. He and Hermione had been speaking more and he'd realised that on some stupid level of his brain, he was feeling things for her, although he couldn't exactly pin point what these "things" were. He just knew he liked her. He wasn't good with his emotions though, but he was too embarrassed to tell her. How did he come out with it, after he'd spent six years insulting her and being completely horrible? Sure, he hadn't hated her all the way through their school years, around their fourth year he started to see her as a girl. He didn't think he had feelings for her then, though.

-----------

Harry was sat on the sofa, his eyes closed, and his breathing was slow. He was about to fall asleep, and whilst his subconcious realised this, he just couldn't make himself wake up. He'd been up all night with Ginny, talking about baby names, and the stuff they needed to buy for the baby. Ginny had told him that she was going shopping with Malfoy and Hermione for the babystuff, and he'd asked if he was allowed to go with her. He wanted to see what sort of stuff was going to be brought and have a say in some of it. It felt right to be able to pick their baby's things together. It's what they should be doing.

They hadn't made any developement on what names they wanted their baby to have, but that was probably because they didn't know the sex of the baby yet, and Harry wasn't sure if you could find out. Although the unknown Wizard had told them how far along the girls were, maybe he'd know what they were having as well. He figured he'd have to ask.

Just as he was drifting in to the unknown, he heard Ginny's heavy footfalls on the stairs and forced himself awake, and alert. Her stomach popped around the door first, and he smiled. There was his baby. Then Ginny came around, and smiled.

"Hey." She said, coming over and sitting on the cushion next to him. She looked happy, although Harry supposed she was glad that in a week, she was going to be able to walk properly, and not waddle, and she wasn't going to be lugging around an extra person with her. Harry personally couldn't wait until the baby was born. Sure, it wasn't going to be like a normal baby, but it would be a baby none the less.

"Hey," Harry said, "I thought you were sleeping?" That was why he was on the sofa, he was trying to let Ginny relax, and get the rest she needed.

"I was trying," She said, leaning back, and putting her hands on her stomach, "but your child decided it would be fun to kick me. A lot."

Harry grinned, and placed his hand on her stomach, over one of hers. He loved feeling his child kick, and just hoped it would happen for real one day. After everything he'd put up with in his life, he wanted his adult hood to be as normal as it could be. He doubted it would happen though. There was too much drama in his life for him to be anything like normal.

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Ron was in the bathroom, sat against the bathroom door. This was a nightmare, it really was. Lavender seemed to think that because she was pregnant, she could beat him, and he wasn't going to take it. He'd leave if he had to, but he wanted to wait until she'd had her baby of course. He wasn't going to ditch her whilst she was this pregnant, he wasn't that bad. He'd been brought up a lot better than that.

he stood up with a sigh and opened the bathroom door. He'd given her time to relax and chill out a little, and he doubted that he was going to get hurt as soon as she saw him, but then again, with her hormones and emotions as high as they were right now, he really didn't know what she was going to do to him. He took to the stairs slowly, not quite wanting to see her. She was sat on the sofa though and there was no way that he could avoid her.

He ran a hand through his hair, "Hey." He said slowly, watching her in case she decided to jump on him and bit him or something.

Instead she just looked up at him, and then reverted her gaze back to the TV. "Hi," she said, her voice had a softer edge to it than she was used to, "Ron, I'm sorry." She looked pained as she said it, "I'm not supposed to take it all out on you, but I'm scared. I don't even know whats going to happen to me."

He frowned, "What do you mean?" He asked, he was in shock that she'd actually apologized.

"I mean...with this course. I'm pregnant, and I'm not even sure how. Sure it's the potion, but what I meant was how did a potion create a life in me, that's got both of us in it?" She didn't look at him as she spoke, instead keeping her gaze squarly on the TV, not even blinking.

Ron shrugged, "It's gunna work out, McGonagall knows what she's doing. Don't let it worry you." He sat on the floor, near the sofa, and she turned and smiled at him. "We should take a look at the task list later." She said, and Ron just nodded in agreement.


	37. Chapter 37

**a/n: Omigod guys. It's been time, hasn't it? I'm really sorry. Schools out and all, but then my dad got me a job at his work, and with him being my boss, it's been kinda easy so I got time to write this out todayy... Well, hope you enjoy I suppose. The next one will probably be out much sooner, and I'm gonna try and make them longer now. **

Weekend had come around rather fast for the guys, and they wanted it to go away again. Surely Saturday felt like it needed a break, and could skip straight to Sunday for one week? No amount of wishing was going to make that come true though, so Draco decided that it wasn't just the girls -- even the days of the week had it in for him! He couldn't escape them. Maybe if he hid under the bed? Behind the fridge?...In the bathtub? He knew Hermione would sniff him out no matter where he hid, so there wasn't much point. That girl knew when you were doing something you shouldn't have been. Draco wondered how Harry and Ron had got along with her so well, when they were the ones who were constantly breaking the school rules.  
Today was the day of the shopping day, which really did explain Draco's thoughts. He was going shopping with Ginny, Harry and Hermione. Ginny and Hermione were okay with him, now, but Harry still didn't like him. Which was fine, because Draco didn't think much of Harry either. The girls didn't really understand how they could get along with him, yet he and Ron couldn't. Maybe they were just being boys, and finding it hard to get rid of a grudge, but when these babies came through, from where ever they were gonna come from, the guys were gonna have to suck it up.

Hermione had a feeling that all of their kids would be friends, mainly due to the fact that there were only four other English people in this area, and they'd be spending a lot of time together after their birth. Hermione wished that the guys would just like, shake hands, or even nod at each other in a way of forgiving each other. Draco would not do that first though. Hermione and Ginny had both had to approch him, and it had took him some time to get used to them, and even talk to them properly. Hermione and Draco were much closer, they were friends, whilst Ginny was slowly getting there with him. Lavender never really seemed to have a problem with Draco, and she hadn't said much to him throughout the whole course as of yet.  
They'd all gone out, last night, to a restaurant to comeplete another task. They were doing quiet well, really. Considering today they were going to complete another one. Their first mall trip had been classed as their outing. The second one was being their shopping trip. As it was after the first two days, it counted. They wanted, and needed, to get all the tasks done soon. They wanted to be able to spend time with their children, they only had a few months with them, and Hermione doubted that it would be long enough. Even though they weren't really her children, she felt like she was going to have a bond with them. After all, she could feel them moving, and everytime they did, she got this weird feeling of happiness. She loved it.

She was kinda worried though, that Harry was going to get too attached. She'd seen how he was with Ginny, and knew that her friend was looking for a way to be the husband and father his dad never had the chance to be. She just hoped he didn't feel the pain of loss again, when the course ended. Maybe she'd ask Ron to have a word with him, or she'd do it herself. She just didn't want to bring it up like that though.

She finished getting dressed and went downstairs. Draco was already ready, and they just had to wait for Ginny and Harry to come across. Hermione hoped that this is what it would be like when they grew up, Harry and Ginny together, not living far from each other. Her and...well, she never expected it to be Draco, and then Ron and his partner... who she'd always thought might be Luna. Sure she'd had feelings for Ron at one point, but they'd been replaced by the brotherly ones she had required. She'd always loved the two as brothers, and had a feeling that she always would. She couldn't really see them being too far apart from each other. They'd done everything together. They were like their own little family, and Hermione had a feeling that Harry loved that fact. Even though everyone else had left him, they'd been there with him whilst he grew up, and they'd shared everything.

There was a brief rap on the door and Hermione really hoped that it was Harry. If Ginny knocked like that, then it usually meant that she was annoyed and if she was annoyed then Harry was usually hurt and that meant that today was gonna be a bad day. They wouldn't be able to have fun if Ginny was annoyed or angry. It just wasn't possible with that girl. Hermione really was starting to see the resemblance between her and Mrs Weasley. Once again, both those women could be mad scary when they wanted to be. It was like they just pretended to be nice and they were really evil, and cunning. Obvioulsy, Hermione admired that both. They both had brilliant qualities in them, and the fact that they were and had both been in Gryffindor made her proud to be a Gryffindor as well.

When she opened the door, she sighed. It was Harry. Maybe today would turn out okay then, well, at least she hoped that it would. Although she had a feeling the boys were gonna be sour and tired after this because they were going out shopping with two very pregnant females. She'd hate to be in their shoes, if she was gonna be all out honest here. She moved aside so that her friends could come in, and then shut the door before walking -- or as Draco referred to it: waddling -- back in to the living room. They were gonna get a cab down to the Mall, due to the fact that they didn't really have any idea where it was, and the guys didn't think the girls would appreciate walking a long distance. They might require to be rolled up or down a hill, and the guys didn't think they'd be able to do that really. Even if it would be fun, at least in Draco's oppinion it would anyway. He didn't think the beating they'd get when the kids were born would be worth it. Maybe they could get themselves deported first?

Hermione threw the housephone at Draco and told him to phone a cab. He noticed that she'd been asking him to do a lot of stuff that involved using Muggle Technology, and wondered if she was either lazy, or trying to help him learn how to use them for when she wouldn't be able to help him as much. Which would probably be within the next week. Man, he was kinda scared about the babies coming. How were they gonna get here? The girls obviously couldn't give birth to them, and it wasn't like Stalks really existed... was it? He hoped not, man those birds looked scary.


	38. Chapter 38

The cab had turned up rather quickly after Hermione had phoned it, which Draco was rather upset about, truth be told. He wondered if he ran out there screaming, and throwing himself across the bonnet with ketchup on his shirt would make the driver drive off really fast? He might think that someone had been murdered, and not want to be a witness to it. Draco thought that it was a rather good idea, and knew if he told Harry, that the guy would agree. It was just the girls. He couldn't see them agreeing to that - they wanted to go shopping, and if he made their car disappear, they'd be a bit mad at him.

Draco was scared though, that they'd want to stay until closing time. So the way he saw it was, if he could preventthem from leaving as early, they wouldn't have to shop for as long... and the girls wouldn't be as tired. He knew though, that no matter how much he worded it to make it sound like he was helping the girls out, they wouldn't see it that way, and they'd probably still hurt him. It was so unfair.

The four of them piled in to the cab, and set off for the nearest mall. Draco had seen a babystore near the shop he worked at, and they were going there. It was a decent shop, from what Draco could see, but what did he know? The girls were talking about things that Draco didn't even know about, and things he was sure he didn't want to know about either, when the cab stopped. Harry paid the fare, before getting out and helping Ginny. Draco copied him, opening the other door, and taking Hermione by the arm to get her out the cab. Sure, Hermione wasn't as big Ginny, but he still didn't wanna look like he didn't care. Harry would probably hurt him for it.

The shop was fairly large and filled with different sections, before and after birth. Draco didn't see the need for the before birth area, but the girls seemed to. Hermione and Ginny talked for a moment, before heading off in that direction. Draco and Harry hung back to follow them, walking much slower. Draco wasn't even sure that it was possible for them to walk much slower, but they managed it. Surely there had to be a world record for this? Two, healthy, physically fit guys walking slower than two women who were eight months pregnant? Yeahh, there had to be a world record for that. Draco would ask Hermione about it after she gave birth. She tended to be more... angry now. She called it mood swings. Draco called her psycho. One minute she's happy, the next she has Draco pinned down to the sofa, threatening a very tender part of him... for example...

Draco was sore because of the whole 'you got beat by a girl' subject. He didn't want to admit it, but he knew that both Harry and Ron were suffering as well, so it wasn't that bad. It was like an unspoken agreement. You just didn't mention it. Although, it was obvious Ron got the worst of it, but these last couple of months, Lavender seemed to have been laying off.

"Whatcha looking at?" Harry asked, coming up behind the girls, and trying to peer inbetween their shoulders.

"Baby stuff." Ginny answered, slowly.

"Well, duh." Draco muttered, coming over and trying to look as well.

"What baby stuff?" Harry asked, walking around to the side. It was some weird thing. It had like a suction pad on it, and a pipe... and a plastic glass thing connected to it---... Oh! He realised what it was and took a step back. Draco gave him a weird look.

"What...? Potter! Explain please." Draco demanded, him too taking a step back. Hey, if the guy who killed Voldemort was scared of that thing, then Draco was terrified of it.

Harry shook his head, "Why don't me and Draco go look for things... like... diapers?" He asked

"You've been in America too long. It's Nappies, not diapers." Hermione told him, before nodding, "Sure though, go ahead."

Harry nodded, and pulled Draco away. Ewww. Guys did not bode well with those kind of things. And the girls couldn't really understand why. They also knew it would happen, and were only playing with the guys. They didn't need this material because the baby wasn't even real. Ginny put the breast pump down, and walked over to the guys.

"Come on, we should get what we really need, and stop messing with them or they're never gonna come shopping with us again."

Hermione laughed, "True." They needed the guys to carry their bags! They couldn't do a lot of shopping with out them, and they couldn't really ask Ron to come alone. The guys would probably fill him in on the horrors anyway.

When they caught up with the guys, they were busy looking at nappies, and Draco was staring at some cribs. The girls knew that the guys didn't know what they were doing at all. They just wanted to look like they did when it was obvious that they didn't. Stupid guys. Ginny walked over to Harry, and picked up two big boxes of nappies. They'd last. She dropped them in to a trolley that Draco had.

"Hey! That's mine!" Draco whined, pouting and looking away from the cribs.

"So? Get another. I didn't wanna have to carry around those nappies. They were heavy."

Harry sighed, and walked off, returning a minute later with another trolley. He lent in to Draco's and took out the two boxes, before dropping them back in to his. It was eaiser that way, and it should hopefully prevent Draco from pouting like a little baby, although God only knew with that child. He was so damn difficult. Hermione was stood next to Draco with her arms folded - a sure sign that she was mad. Harry felt inda sorry for the guy, he knew first hand what Hermione's temper was like. It wasn't the best thing in the world to have directed at you. Harry would rather it be a train coming down a track, breaking their speed limits at him, than an angry Hermione...never mind an angry pregnant Hermione. That was just worse.

Hermione dragged Draco off to look at the prams, stating they'd need one, because the baby wasn't going to be stuck in the house all the time. Draco didn't see the point, because he doubted the child would be allowed to grow up at the normal pace, so they might only have days with the baby before it turned in to a toddler. Hermione did agree with him, but still demanded one. She got one that was suitable for both babies and toddlers to make Draco happier.

Ginny was busy looking at cribs, still, she couldn't decide which one she'd rather have. She didn't know the gender of her children, so she didn't want to get a bright pink or a blue one. She wanted to get neutral colours, like pale green, or white. Harry knew better than to say what he thought was better because he knew that Ginny wouldn't listen to him anyway. She was going to pick this and it was going to be the one she liked - not the one that Harry liked better.

Both the females went to look at baby baths, and Harry was glad - there wasn't exactly loads of them to pick from, and they were all made out of a very similar material. So it shouldn't even take that long for them to pick what they wanted and then the guys could go home and do what they wanted to do for the rest of the day. Yeah, right. Harry knew that after this, they'd probably want to go and do more shopping for other baby things - like clothes and bottles and dummies. The guys felt like they were gonna die.

Hermione decided to pick a light blue bath, a plastic thing, and a bath seat for a toddler - that way if the children did age quickly, she had the stuff ready and wouldn't have to make a run for the shops. It was better to be over prepared than to be under prepared. Draco, personally, didn't agree. He didn't like the idea of spending so much money. Sure they were doing okay for it, but he didn't want to waste in on stuff that he didn't even think he needed.

When they'd finally finished shopping, the girls ended up comparing their stuff. Hermione and Ginny had brought a lot of the same stuff - the same steraliser, and bottles. They'd got very similar nappy stations - just in different colours, and they had the same baths. It didn't reallt matter, because a lot of this stuff was probably going to get left behind when they went back to Scotland, and it wasn't like they'd completely purposly copied each other.

The cab back home was slower, which just annoyed Draco. The first one was quick enough to bring him to his torture, now this one - the saviour cab - goes really slow? They were just haters towards him. He climbed in the back when it arrived, and took Hermione's hand to help her in to the cab, before Harry followed, and Ginny clamboured in, noisly after him, despite the help he offered her. She was being difficult because she "didn't like relying on him for everything." even though he really didn't mind, and actually liked the fact she had to depend on him.

The groups split up when they got back home. Harry and Draco carried the stuff in to the houses, helping each other as they went, and then waved goodbye to their friends.

"Thank God that's over." Draco moaned, letting himself fall on to the sofa, and sighing. Hermione just shook her head.

"It's far from over. We've got to get clothes... and we need to set up all the baby stuff before next weekend."

"Why next weekend?" Draco asked slowly, although he thought he already knew.

"Because... from what I worked out, that's when we should be having the babies..."

Draco just blinked. Seven days? Man, that really wasn't that far away, was it?

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Drop me a review and let me know. Oh and I also wanted to ask you: Anyone got any ideas on how the babies can be born? I've got a few, but if I like your idea, am I okay to steal it? I'll hit you back up and let you know, and I'll fully credit you in the next chapter! :D Thanks guys!**


	39. Chapter 39

**A/N: Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I've had a fair few problems. A death occurred in the family a little over a month ago, and I've started College, and have recently sat an A-Level, so I've not really had time. But, because I felt kind of bad about not updating, I made this chapter really long. It's just over 5000 words long, and it includes the birth. I'm going to start the next chapter right now. Iloveyou guys! If you've stuck with me, you shall receive cyber-hugs!**

Draco stretched out his body, his arms lifting high above his head, and his legs stretching so that his feet peeked out of the blanket. Ah, he felt good. It was early morning, and he'd woken up in time for work… for once. He was never late, per say, he was just usually always in some sort of rush. He'd never been tardy in his life, and he didn't plan on starting now. He rolled his shoulders and opened his eyes wide for a second, before pulling the covers off of him, and sliding out of the bed carefully so that he didn't wake Hermione. He'd have felt bad about that. He'd noticed that she was getting more and more tired as the days went on. And bigger, much bigger. Draco had been kind of scared that she'd roll on to him and kill him in the middle of the night. He'd thought that it was a reasonable fear.

Harry and Ron had both slapped him when he'd voiced this to them, though. The three guys were far from close, but with the impending childbirth coming up, they'd all tried their hardest to get along a little more, none of them wanting to stress the girls out. It wasn't going too bad, Ron still occasionally slipped up, and insulted Draco, while Harry had toned himself down to a glare or hand gesture and Draco had much preferred it. He didn't like getting beat on all that much, it was kind of painful. Not his favourite pass time at all.

With a quick glance at the clock, Draco realised – rather happily – that he had time for a shower. He usually only managed a quick wash and a hair comb. Something niggled at him though, and he had the feeling that something was going to go wrong. Today was seemingly too good. Ah, there we go, Draco had spotted the bad thing already. Since when was being able to have a shower and getting up early make any day a good one? Being up early used to be a bad thing for him. He was betting on there being no hot water, just to get on him. The fact he could have a shower, but it would have to be a cold one… He hadn't had cold showers since he was fourteen. Alas, no, the water was hot, and while he should probably be glad about that, it just made him nervous. He was damn sure that something was going to go wrong, he just had to figure out what it could be.

He climbed out of the shower a little while after, not wanting to push his luck by staying in there for longer, what if the traffic was bad, or there was a road accident, and he couldn't get in to work? He was going to be superstitious all day now. No walking under ladders, or stepping on the cracks in the pavement for him today. He couldn't afford a bad day, they tended to put him in a bad mood. And when he was in a bad mood, he annoyed Hermione. An annoyed Hermione equalled a very hurt Draco. Not fun in his books, at all. He'd rather be pain free, thank you very much.

He moved about his daily routines without really paying much attention to what he was doing, his mind other places. Like the fact Hermione thought the babies were going to come any time after today. Maybe that would be the bad thing? But… he couldn't see how getting babies would be the bad thing. Unless… it turned out Harry was the dad of Lavender's babies, Ron the dad of Hermione's and Draco the dad of Ginny's… that would probably make Draco feel just that little suicidal. He was not having babies with a Weasley. No way.

By the time the clock had hit eight in the morning, Draco had eaten his breakfast, had his two mandatory cups of coffee and taken Hermione a glass of pure orange juice up ready for when she woke. He knew pregnant women weren't supposed to drink tea and coffee, so he'd avoided making her that. And drinking it around her, it got her kind of violent for some reason. He hadn't quite figured out why though, he thought it was maybe caffeine withdrawals. He didn't know, and he wasn't brave enough to ask. However, it was time for work.

Because of his earlier thoughts that the roads would be busy, or an accident would occur, Draco figured it would be easier to walk. And probably safer, but then he also remembered that he couldn't step on cracks in the pavement, which would make this walking thing kind of hard. It was like crazy paving out there, he swore someone had gone out with a sledge hammer and massacred the pavement in the dead of night. Eh, he blamed Harry. No matter that Draco didn't think Harry had the strength to lift a sledge hammer, it must have been Potter. End of discussion.

Hermione woke up not long after Draco had left, and she noted instantly that she had a headache. She'd been waking up with them rather frequently, and she wasn't too sure why. She wasn't one to take pills either, so she just had to bear through it.

Even though she was awake, and knew she should probably move, she really didn't want too. She found herself becoming more slow, and lazy as time progressed and it was making her dread being pregnant for real. This was only a placebo pregnancy, and she felt this way. What would a real pregnancy do to her? She wasn't one who stayed in bed at all. That was Ron's job.

It took her a little while, but she managed to force herself out of bed, and in to the bathroom to shower. She had the pregnant waddle, the big stomach, and everything else, yet… she found she could move around pretty easily despite all that. And she could balance, and found it rather easy to get in and out of the showers. She figured that because she wasn't actually pregnant, her center of balance wasn't out, and that's why she wasn't affected the same way that properly pregnant women would be.

Truthfully, for once, she didn't even care. She just wanted to do something productive with today. She'd spent a lot of the last week sat down – due to Draco and his new found over protectiveness – and it had kind of irked her. She was usually the busy one, the one who was always doing something. She hadn't even really been reading. She'd only looked at the pregnancy booklets. Draco had been doing the assignments, on top of working at his little bookstore.

There was a short, quick bang on the door, and with a raised eyebrow, Hermione made her way over to it. She had a feeling she recognised that knock, but to hell if she knew. She knew it'd be either Ron or Harry either way. They were the only ones that came around when Draco wasn't in. Ginny and Lavender didn't really come here alone, either. And she'd not even met her other neighbours. It wasn't that she was rude, but she really didn't have the time between trying to complete the task list, and being fake-pregnant and all. It was a hard life for her to keep up with. She had a respect for her mother that she'd never had before.

She had been right, and it had been both Ron and Harry. She was some what curious as to what they wanted, and why they weren't with their partners. Or at work, for that matter. After another moments thought, she realised that she didn't really care. She was happy to see them.

She leaned towards and wrapped her arms around both of their necks, and pulled them towards her, hugging them tightly, smiling as they both returned her hug. She missed the times when they were together, just the three of them, running around the castle late at night. Not caring if they got in to trouble, they were following Harry on another adventure, and those always had been fun. The rush that had come with them had been amazing too.

"You guys!" Hermione gushed, "What are you doing here?"

Ron raised an eyebrow, "We need a reason to come make sure you're surviving?" He asked, his mouth in that crooked grin of his.

Harry smiled warmly, and took a step back, "We just came to check on you. Plus, Ginny and Lavender are talking… about girl things. It's not a conversation we wanted to hear." He shivered lightly, his face pulled in to a frown.

"What type of girl things…?" Hermione asked slowly. Ron and Harry could withstand a lot, she'd learnt that from the many chats she'd had with them.

"Childbirth… What happens in childbirth… after childbirth…" Ron listed off slowly, using his fingers as markers.

Hermione smiled, "I see. So really, you thought you'd come and hide here until they'd stopped?" She stepped aside so that they could get through the door, rolling her eyes slightly at the pair of them. They should be a little braver about this, if both of them intended ever to be dads. She had a feeling that they both would, too. Especially Harry. It had been a feeling that she'd always had. He knew what it was like to be without a dad, and she felt that he'd want to prove that it hadn't damaged him, and he'd want to be a real father to someone else – be the father that he never had.

She wasn't too sure, really, with Ron. He'd grown up around a big family, and she didn't know if that would put him off having children, or make him want them more. She knew that he was close with his brothers, and especially close to Ginny and she liked that. She wished she had siblings, just so she could share that magic relationship.

Both the guys stepped in, and walked straight through to the living room, sitting themselves down on the sofa. They shifted apart, and Harry patted the space between them, and motioned for Hermione to come and sit down in the middle of them. It felt good to be just the three of them again, not that she had anything against Lavender, Ginny and Draco. Not any more, anyway. Ginny, she'd always been close too, and at first, Lavender had gotten on her nerves. She'd hated Draco, too, but everything seemed to have changed, and Hermione kind of liked it. It was much calmer without everyone shouting at each other and getting down each others necks.

"So, did you have any interesting plans for today, Mione?" Ron asked, leaning in to the corner looking like he was comfy.

Hermione shook her head, her mouth pulled in to a frown. "Nope, there's not really much I can do right now. Draco gets a little odd with me when I leave the house – he thinks I'm just gonna pop the baby out." She sighed softly.

Harry quirked an eyebrow, "That doesn't even sound like Malfoy." He commented, his tone slow. He didn't want Hermione to think he was mocking Malfoy, because… she tended to get mad when that happened.

"It doesn't, does it? He's been all weird, really. He even does stuff for me without me asking. I think he just doesn't want you guys on his back. Again." Hermione leaned her head lightly on Harry's shoulder, and closed her eyes. Her headache was still here, and it was still noticeable to her, but nothing was gonna prevent her from spending time with her two boys. It wasn't until they sat down together that she realised how long it had actually been.

"Yeah… that could be the reason," Ron agreed, his eyebrows furrowed. He was thinking along different lines, but if Hermione hadn't come to that conclusion yet, he didn't want to be the one putting ideas in her head. It wasn't like he supported it, but he was pretty sure Malfoy had a thing… of sorts, for Hermione. Just from the way he acted around her, and even the stuff he did for her.

Harry knew this, though; Ginny wasn't a good secret keeper. Luckily, Harry was. He hadn't told Ron. He didn't know if the kid still liked Hermione or not, and didn't want to tell him their enemy of six years was planning on moving in on their best friend. Ron tended to get a little mad about that sort of stuff. Okay, a lot mad.

Hermione gave a little frown, her small hands resting on her stomach, before yawning widely. She felt tired, again, even though she'd not long been awake. Her fingers tapped gently on her stomach, making a little rhythm. Even though silence had befallen on the three, it was a comfortable one, and Hermione didn't feel the need to break it.

Hermione opened her eyes, blinking slowly, and frowned. She was lay down on the sofa, with a blanket thrown over her body and her head against the arm rest, the curtains were shut and it was dim in the room. She guessed she'd fell asleep on Harry's shoulder, and they'd moved her. But, she didn't know if they were still in the house. Or, she hadn't known until she heard their muffled voices coming from the kitchen. She pushed herself upwards in to standing position, and made her way there slowly, pushing open the door and peering in.

Draco was back too, so maybe it had been a little more than a nap, she didn't know, and she hadn't yet checked the time, but she didn't feel too good, she was feeling kind of sick, and very sore. She made her way fully in to the room, and stood behind Harry's chair, her hands resting on his shoulders lightly.

"Sorry for falling asleep on you." She told them, glancing down at the crown of Harry's head, and then at Ron's face. "Literally in your case, Harry." She squeezed his shoulders, before removing her hands and taking the last empty seat at the table.

"It's fine." Harry smiled, leaning back in his chair, "How are you feeling?"

Hermione gave a little shrug, "Not brilliant, but I'm okay." She answered, giving a small smile. "Have you two not been back to check on Lavender and Ginny?" She asked after a moment, a small frown gracing her features.

"Harry ran across before." Ron answered, his long slender fingers wrapped around a white mug, "They were fine. They said they'd call over if one of them needed help. They've got your phone number."

Hermione nodded, her features once more softening out. "Good. I'd feel mean having all three of you guys here, when one of them needed you."

"We're here by choice, Hermione." Harry told her, glancing to Ron.

"Not by _my _choice." Draco muttered, his voice dry.

"Shut it, Malfoy." Ron rolled his eyes, although there was a slight smile on his lips. It felt good to be able to just mess around now, and not be so serious all the time. This course had been helpful for at least some things, if nothing else. Ron hadn't really learnt much yet, although h e figured he had all that to come when the babies were here. Although, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be learning, and what he could learn, apart from using Muggle appliances. He didn't even see why he needed to know how to use those! It's not like he planned to become a Muggle after Hogwarts was over. It just wasn't something he'd thought about though. Who knew?

"I think you should go across and check on your partners, again." Draco said, nodding his head slightly. He just wanted them out of his house, it was his house, and he didn't like those two. He thought it was pretty fair.

"They'll call if they need us." Ron told him, rolling his eyes at the blond once more. "They're having a chat, and they don't particularly want us there anyway."

"So… let me get this right, you're leaving your heavily 'pregnant' girlfriends there alone, just because? And what if they both go in to labour and it's too painful for them to phone?" Draco asked, "Have you seen birthing programs? The woman just lay there, screaming. I think though, that they put it on, nothing can hurt that much."

Hermione's hand slashed out, and came in to contact with Draco's head, a glare coming down over her face. "You try giving birth one day, and then come and say that to a woman."

Harry frowned, "Sorry, 'Mione, I'm with Malfoy on this one." He said, slowly, "Some woman do just play that out a little more than needed."

Hermione turned her glare to Harry, "Do you wanna get hit too?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

Harry shook his head rapidly, "No… I'm good, thanks." He glanced to Ron, and then shifted his chair away from Hermione's slightly. Hermione knew how to be scary when she wasn't pregnant, now that she was? Hell, he was terrified of her getting angry. She'd probably sit on him… and, he'd survived Voldemort countless times… He didn't feel like being taken out by a pregnant lady.

Hermione gave a little wince, and looked at the table, frowning once more. Draco's attention was immediately pulled to her, he was supposed to be watching out for anything that happened.

"You alright?" He asked her, slowly, tilting his head slightly. He didn't particularly enjoy being concerned for her. It pretty much went against everything he'd been taught, but he was learning to get over that. He didn't have to listen and believe what his dad told him too, after all. He was his own person., his dad had no say over who he liked, respected or whatever else he wanted to do for them. He had the mildest urge to go out and happy slap a Pureblood now, as a final 'Ha!' to his dad….he'd ignore that urge though, it probably wouldn't sit very well.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah, I just feel weird, and my stomach's burning." She said slowly, her eyebrows furrowed slightly. She was confused. She hadn't read anything about her stomach getting hot at any point in pregnancy. And while she'd kept in mind that this wasn't a real pregnancy, she'd thought this sort of stuff would be similar, just hopefully not the actual birth. If it was, her and McGonagall were having words about this. Angry words.

"Wanna go lay down upstairs?" Ron asked, "Beds always help when I don't feel too good, that and eating food."

Hermione smiled, "You always eat food, whether you feel ill or not." She said, but then nodded, "Yeah, that might be for the best." She stood up slowly, and rubbed her forehead slightly before pushing her chair back and stepping around it. She paused when she noticed the looks the guys were giving her.

"…Hermione, not to be nosy or anything, but why is your stomach glowing?" Harry asked her, his expression very confused.

Hermione looked down and looked to Harry once more, "It's not glowing…" She told him slowly. She couldn't see any sort of glow coming from her stomach. She wondered if Harry had been taking sweets off strangers. She'd warned him and Ron about that before.

"No, it is." Ron backed Harry up, his own voice coming out very slowly. Hermione's eyes darted to Draco, who was nodding along with their words, and her let herself drop back down in to her seat.

"Are you sure?" She asked the three of them, "Why can't I see it?"

Draco shrugged, "Might be the spell." He said slowly, "What colour potion did you take?"

"Blue. Why?" She didn't see what the potion colour had to do with anything.

"Your stomach is blue…" Harry told her, "Think it's a sign?"

Hermione shrugged slowly, "What happens now?"

Draco looked to the other two guys, and then turned back to Hermione, "Honestly, I don't really know."

The phone gave a shrill ring making Ron stand suddenly, and bolted over to it. He spoke quickly in to the receiver, and then dropped the phone back in to the cradle.

"Harry!" He called, "Come on! Yellow and pink alert!"

Draco blinked, "Yellow and pink?" He asked, "I thought it was red and blue?"

Hermione shook her head, "The potion colours they drunk were pink and yellow."

Harry seemed to realise what Ron was going on about at those words, and he too stood up and made his way out of the kitchen. "I'd love to stay with you Hermione, but, I don't think neither Ginny nor Lavender would understand all that much. " He said, feeling kind of bad about leaving Hermione, but the girls needed them, and as much as Harry didn't like it, Hermione had Draco to help her.

"It's fine, Harry. Go." Hermione stood up slowly, and made her own way in to the living room, sitting down lightly on the sofa, before laying back on it.

The two boys nodded, and left, heading back to their own homes, it was only right that they were with their partners right now. Hermione wouldn't be cruel like that.

"What do we do now?" Draco asked, perching on the very edge of the sofa, his body pressed sideways against her leg.

"I don't really know, you'd think we'd get some sort of note or instructions." Hermione said slowly.

It had been seconds after she'd finished speaking, the phone rang once more, and Draco was the one to stand and get it.

"Was that Harry or Ron?" Hermione asked, once Draco had put the phone back down. She was curious, what could she say? She was supposedly giving birth now, or so that's what they were thinking. She felt that she had a right to be nosy.

Draco shook his head, "Apparently, it's the unknown wizard." He said slowly, frowning, "He sounds as crazy on the phone as he does in his letters…" Draco shrugged, and came to sit next to Hermione. "Apparently, you're gonna black out, and it'll become clear from there what happens. That's all I've been told."

Hermione took this turn to frown, "Why will I black out?" She asked slowly, that didn't sound like much fun. She kind of wanted to be awake. This was the next part of the course. She'd feel like she fell asleep in class if she missed it. And that was not a good feeling for Hermione to have.

"Something 'bout it being vital, because the spell needs to do it's work. I don't know, I stopped listening after black out and baby." Draco told her, looking strangely innocent.

"You stopped listening? When you were being given instructions about the course?" Hermione's tone was slightly shrill, and Draco feared that he was going to be the one blacking out… this girl had quite a punch on her.

"It was _boring, _what else was I supposed to do?" He demanded of her, his eyebrows quirking slightly. It wasn't his fault that he didn't really care about what was going to happen. He just wanted to know how the hell Hermione was going to get a phantom baby out of her, and make it a real baby. That was the interesting part. Unless it involved him pushing something out of his body. Nah, he wasn't up for that. Didn't sound much like a fun game.

"You were supposed to listen, so we knew what was going on!" Hermione sighed, exasperated, and just gave up on him, closing her eyes, and stretching out. She nudged him with her body, trying to push him off the sofa while appearing angelic.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out." He muttered slowly, getting a firm seat back on the sofa. He wasn't letting a pregnant lady push him about. No way. He was a man, dammit! Pfft, who was he kidding? He was scared of Hermione and that was that. If she really wanted him off the sofa, he'd move as fast as he could for fear she'd hit him again.

Hermione didn't reply, and when Draco looked at her, he saw that her eyes were shut loosely and her breathing was shallow. Better her being blacked out than shouting at him for not listening, but really, it wasn't his fault. He got bored easily and Unknowny hadn't been telling him anything that he found interesting. It was like classwork all over again, and Draco had never paid attention to that.

He kept his eyes on her, watching for signs to show what he was supposed to do next, but nothing popped up on a neon sign with instructions, so he was at a loss. He wasn't the best at getting subtle hints. He did notice, however, that her stomach was loosing the blue glow, and slowly shrinking back to it's normal appearance. Draco – using the brains that he was known for – guessed that meant the baby was on their way. He felt smart at having figured that out, man. It was a big thing for him.

The glow and the bump completely disappeared almost as suddenly as they'd both come along. Alright, as suddenly as the glow had come along. The bump had been a rather gradual thing, if Draco was completely honest with himself… but he wasn't, because he didn't like correcting himself. He always felt like he had voices in his head when that happened, and it wasn't exactly a good feeling… thinking that you were insane, and having a voice disagree. Led to arguing most of the time, and that usually led to Draco feeling crazier… He was a weird child, what could he say?

He kept his eyes on Hermione, looking for any type of sign, and saw none, apart from the fact that her eyelids were fluttering very slightly. He guessed that meant she was waking up. He was getting better with this guessing stuff, and was feeling moderately smart right now. Go him! It only took a couple more seconds for Hermione to open her eyes properly and glance up at Draco. He noted that she looked rather confused, and lost, but he wasn't going to ask her what that was about. He'd wait to see if she actually knew anything, or thought that he was stalking her and watching her sleep. He wouldn't even correct her, he'd let her get freaked out… just for laughs.

"Where's the baby?" Hermione asked after a moment, blinking her eyes slowly to try and focus them.

Draco shrugged, "I don't kn—" He stopped short as a shrill, loud cry covered his voice, a frown marring his features. "Where did that come from?"

Hermione shrugged in return, "It kind of sounded like it came from upstairs. Go look."

"Why do _I _have to look?" He demanded, "It could be a murderer."

"How many murderers have you heard of that cry like a baby?" Hermione asked, one eyebrow raised slightly.

"The ones that get caught." Draco countered, before standing up and holding out his hand. "Come on, if that's the baby, you should be there to see as well." He just didn't want to go up the stairs alone. He was convinced there was going to be a murderer waiting for him now.

"Such a child." Hermione muttered, but accepted his hand and stood up a little too quickly. "Wow. It's weird being back to my normal size. I feel out of balance, like I've lost my center."

"We can find your center later, right now let's concentrate on finding our baby." He preferred that idea. Babies sounded like more fun than a center.

Hermione just nodded, finding it easier to go ahead and agree with him, and led him upstairs, still holding on to his hand. "Do you reckon the baby would be in our room?" She asked, pausing on the stairs.

Draco pulled a slight face, and looked up to her, "I dunno." He said, thoughtfully, "Let's just follow the cries."

"There are no cries now." Hermione said, her tone stating the obvious. How could they follow something that wasn't there?

"Wait for the cry to come again." Draco said, just as the cry restarted. Heh, he liked this baby already, it learnt on command, he was gonna have fun with this.

Hermione nodded, and began to walk up the stairs again slowly, using her ears more than her eyes. She walked on to the landing and paused once more. "That noise isn't coming from our room." She told him, "Does… does that mean a rooms been unlocked?"

"It'd probably make sense, the baby would need a room… and there were a few rooms closed, wasn't there?"

Tigger came strolling out of their bedroom, her tail rather bushy as if she'd tried to make herself look big out of fear, and she padded over to one of the usually locked doors, her paw hitting against the wooden panels as if she was trying to open it.

"Think Tigger knows something we don't?" Draco asked, his eyes on the cat. They still didn't get along perfectly, but they were getting a little more tolerant of each other. They had a deal. Tigger didn't bite Draco, and Draco didn't shout and bite Tigger back. It was working out well so far.

Hermione nodded, "Certainly seems that way." She said, stepping forwards slowly and turning the door handle before giving it a light push. The door opened easily without a sound and Tigger ran in first, followed closely by Hermione and Draco. The room was averaged sized, but towards the far right corner, a small bed was there, and the cries were louder from in here. They'd found their baby! Hermione walked close to it, pulling Draco along behind her. He was lagging slightly, not too sure if he was ready for all of this, but he did want to see the baby. They both leaned over, and Hermione grinned goofily, before reaching forwards and lifting up a small little body.


	40. Chapter 40

**a.n: this one isn't as long, but it's only a filler chapter, just so you can learn a little about the babies. Also, if anyone is interested… I and a friend have started an RP site. It's set in the founders era, two of the founders need to be claimed, and there's a lot of cannons. So, if you wanna come and join us, and see how we REALLY act outside of FF… the url is: fallxtogether(dot)proboards(dot)com See you there!.. hopefully.**

Hermione cradled the baby to her body and smiled slightly at Draco. "We should get a name," She said, slowly, her hands stroking the smooth head of the child. "We now have a baby boy."

Draco tilted his head, and looked at the baby, "What do you think we should call him?" He asked slowly. Of course the baby was a boy. All the first born Malfoy's had been boys… except like, four of them… who had been the first born and female. But those didn't count; Draco didn't want to include them because if he did, that would make him wrong. Draco did not like to be wrong.

"I think we should go for a nice, traditional name. Not star constellations, or characters from a play." Hermione told him, before chewing on her lip slightly. She hadn't really thought about names, none of this had struck her as real until now.

"What about Bob?" Draco asked, tilting his head. "I like Bob."

Hermione looked at him with a frown, "I'm not too sure Bob is a traditional name anymore, we've moved on a little now."

Draco shrugged, "What about… Isaac?" He suggested again, he'd heard something about a dude who'd invented something or whatever. He didn't know, he didn't pay attention, it had been science… was he supposed to like that?

Hermione looked down once more at the baby, and lifted him away from her body to get a proper look at him. "I like that name," She agreed slowly. If they didn't pick a name out, they'd spend hours arguing about it, and Draco wasn't the one to come up with the most intelligent retorts and reasons.

"Can we call him Isaac then?" He asked hopefully, running his finger down the babies cheek slowly. Obviously a Malfoy, he was too darn cute not to be.

Hermione nodded, "Yeah. I like that. Isaac Caelum Malfoy. What do you think?" She'd used a constellation as the middle name, but she didn't know if Draco would pick up on that.

Draco smiled, "I'm thinking that's a good name for a son." He said, "Can I hold him?" Hermione nodded and passed the baby over to Draco carefully, watching him. She didn't know if he'd ever held a baby before, and didn't really want Draco to drop poor Isaac on his head, or hurt him.

"I'm not stupid," Draco said slowly, watching Hermione, "I can tell by your look you think I'm gonna drop the baby, or do something completely irresponsible." Which, he probably would do something irresponsible, but he had the brains to wait until Hermione was out of the room. He held the small body close to his, and smiled as little fists hit his chest slightly and then rested there.

"How long do you reckon we're in this baby stage for?" Draco asked quietly, rocking side to side lightly.

Hermione gave a shrug, "I'd say about a month, maybe? It's been a month now… We're only here for nine months to begin with, unless they make us stay longer."

Draco sighed, "A month of sleepless nights," He whined, sounding completely devastated about that fact.

"Is better than over a year of them," Hermione carried on his sentence with a raised eyebrow. She thought this was a bloody good deal, really. And she was excited as hell about it. She couldn't wait to see if she could make it as a mother, even if it was only pretend. It'd be a good start. She'd be able to see if she could deal with this sort of stuff once leaving Hogwarts. Of course, she didn't plan to become a mother or a wife this early, but still.

Draco smiled slightly, "I suppose you're right." He said, leaning down to put Isaac back in the crib. "Should we phone the others, and see if the babies have come yet?" He asked, he was kind of excited now. This was like… they were adults, they were free to do what they wanted. Of course, that wasn't completely the case. If this was real, they'd be able to use Magic.

"Yeah…" Hermione said slowly, leaning over the little baby bed once more, and running her finger down the baby's cheek lightly. "Let's go do that now and let Isaac sleep."

Draco smiled warmly, again, and reached forward to take Hermione's hand lightly in his before leading her out of the room and back down the stairs. He released her hand when he got in front of the sofa, and then moved over to the phone to pick it up and hit in a combination of numbers.

"Potter?" He asked in to the receiver. He was getting better at using these things, and Hermione was proud of him for that. "Stop being a git. Did Weaslette pop a baby out?"

Hermione raised an eyebrow, and looked at Draco with a stern look as he whined down the phone, "That wasn't the deal, Potter! I forbid it! Potter? Harry!" He growled and dropped the phone.

"What's up?" Hermione asked him, her eyebrow still raised.

"The good for nothing bugger is coming around, without invitation!"

Hermione laughed, "He's always allowed here."

"He's bringing Weasley one and two, and the psycho one." Draco informed her slowly. He could deal with Harry and Ginny. He actually liked the female Weasley. He found her to be nice, but Ron and Lavender? Hell no. That was too hard. And all four of them in the same place as him? That was like torture.

Hermione didn't even bother replying to him. He was melodramatic, she swore. Draco wasn't too sure if he should take offence at her silence, or if he should feel proud, and that he'd won. He knew he hadn't won, but…a guy could pretend, right? He wasn't sure he could ever actually win against Hermione. She seemed to always be right.

There was a knock at the door, and Hermione stood to answer it, leaving Draco to sit alone on the sofa. There was no way he was letting them in to the house. He didn't even want them here in all honesty. He wanted this place to himself for once. People always seemed to be around here now, it was like they didn't have their own homes when Draco knew for a fact that they did.

There was a squeal, one that sounded very similar to Hermione's, and a lot of rushed words. Draco felt left out, like there was something going on that he wasn't involved in and had been considering moving to find out what it was when Harry walked in, holding a small body in his arms.

"Potter." Draco nodded slightly, and then craned his head, trying to get a scope on the baby. Ha, his was cuter. His baby owned Potter's baby any day. He could take pride in that.

"Malfoy." Harry smiled slightly, "Meet Genevieve." He tilted the baby so that she was visible, and Draco looked at her, with a cocked head. Heh, Harry hadn't done that bad, he'd admit. "Mine's still better." He muttered.

"What?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow. He had no idea what Draco had said, but from the tone the boy had ushered it at, he was guessing it's something that would entitle Draco to being beaten.

"I said… wow, she's not redheaded?" Draco frowned, and looked a little shifty. He was hoping he'd get away with this blatant lie.

"Riiight…" Harry dragged the word out, before nodding his head, "Nope. She has my hair colour, and Ginny's eyes."

Draco rolled his own eyes, "I'm sure she doesn't have Ginny's eyes. They're probably just really similar."

Harry felt like facepalming himself. "I mean, they have matching eyes, Malfoy."

"I know. I just wanted to get on your nerves. Where is your wife anyway?" She hadn't followed Harry in, and Draco doubted the female would be dumb enough to let Harry take their child out moments after birth without her.

"At the door with Hermione and Lavender." Ron answered, stepping in to the room, just before Harry had opened his mouth. He carried a little body too, and Draco was feeling kind of crowded, and left out. Isaac was upstairs, and everyone had babies but him right now.

"This is little Prudence." He grinned widely. He was proud of his baby.

"Lavender picked that name, didn't she?" Harry asked with a grin. Ron wouldn't have picked a name like that, and he knew it.

Ron nodded, "Yeah, she hit me until I conceded and let her have the name." That woman was still bloody violent, although Ron could not deny that she'd not calmed down.

"So… where's your baby?" Harry asked after a moment, "I'm guessing Hermione had one. She's not massive anymore."

Draco nodded, "Upstairs. Asleep." He answered slowly, watching the door. Hermione was coming back through now with the two girls following behind her, and she was smiling warmly. Ginny stepped in behind her, and Draco nearly had some sort of fit. She had a baby in her arms too. His eyes darted back to Harry, and then to Ron, and back to the redheaded female. Alright. There was an extra baby in here, why?

Ginny grinned, "This is Francesca." She told them with a nod, "Genevieve's twin."

Draco blinked rapidly. Twins? Ha, he felt slightly sorry for Harry now. He was going to be getting less sleep than Draco was. Although, he was slightly happy about that. Harry always had to have the best. Draco didn't see why he'd want two children anyway.

Harry looked back to Draco, "We determined you had a baby… you gonna tell us anything about this baby? Name? Gender? Appearances?"

Hermione looked to Draco and then to Harry. "I'll go get him." She said, "Draco, fill them in."

Draco watched as she walked away before turning to the three waiting people. "We had a little boy. We called him Isaac. And he looks like no one right now. He didn't have his eyes open when we saw him, and he was rather… bald."

Ginny smiled, "He's gonna look like you." She said with a nod, which made Draco frown.

"How can you even tell that?" He asked, before looking to the door again as Hermione stepped back in.

"Trust me." Was all Ginny said, smiling slightly wider. Baby!


End file.
